The Occasional Artist

How did I become an artist? Is artistry natural? Are we born with it? I am uncertain. Although I did not attend an art school, art became integral to my life. I evolved into art from my early years. Being natural and comfortable with art is an incredible gift. It played a significant role in my career success. Creative arts is immensely fulfilling. Artists make change happen. I call myself an occasional artist. This is that story.

I was less than four years old. My father sat me down on our front verandah. He started by drawing a ship in the simplest of forms. He drew the ship’s hull, the two decks, one giant funnel and a bit of smoke. He drew simple shapes that a small child could comprehend. I was fascinated with the form of the ship he created for me. It was terrific.

I could easily access pencils and paper that were probably deliberately left for me. So I started drawing ships on my own using paper and carbon pencils. Carbon pencils were popularly known as copying pencils in art circles.

Denzil, at age four when he, was introduced to the joys of art

We lived in a house that faced Kandy road, the main artery road in Sri Lanka. It was a busy road. Many types of vehicles plied the road, cars, buses, lorries, bicycles and bullock carts pulled by cows. For a four-year-old, these moving objects were to become an obsession. I was fascinated by their movements, wheels and shapes.

I was captivated whenever an aeroplane flew across the vast blue sky over our house. Soon, planes joined my art objects of ships, buses and beyond inside my head. I could not take my mind off them.

What does any uninhibited child do, then? They feed on imagination. I did what any kid would do today. I reproduced them by drawing them. That was the only way I could create my cars, buses and ships. I could not stop drawing them. I was developing my cognitive skills in art form.

I wet the deep blue carbon pencils with my tongue to get the most impact. As a result, my artwork turned into a brilliant purple colour mixed with my spit. Against the white paper, my artwork looked a great contrast. My palms and clothes were smeared with ink from the pencils. My tongue was purple. Fortunately, I was allowed to indulge in my first hobby. My mother never complained and allowed me to continue my messy pastime.

My parents took me on a domestic flight with my grandfather. It was a captivating experience for a child of four on his maiden flight — an experience like no other. My fascination with planes developed further with that experience.

Denzil and his father, Thomas, in their garden around the time of Denzil’s induction into art. Both wear traditional Sri Lankan gear. This photograph had been staged.

I imagined airports and drew planes all the time. Imagination led to deception and lies. I lied to Anton, my classmate in year two, who sat next to me, that I had an airport at home. What an unpalatable and blatant lie that was. I am embarrassed about that lie even today. I continued drawing aeroplanes and other objects in years two and beyond.

At around ten years, my inspiration came from cartoons in local newspapers and English comic books. When my father bought the weekly newspaper, I turned to the cartons' pages. Glen, one of my neighbours, lent me his cartoon comic books. They were vivid with pictures of the hero ‘Superman’. My interest in art turned into human forms with influences from American comics. I delved into drawing humans now.

In the front of our house was an ample open space filled with abundant white sand. It was a vast canvas freely available to a young artist. Using my index finger, I drew human images as creative ideas blurted out of my head on the immense white sand.

When I was about twelve, I was fortunate to have a teacher in year seven who appreciated art and was an artist himself. One could find him doodling with s in his spare time. He introduced me to drawing objects. He brought bunches of flowers and taught the entire class to remove them. He loved my completed artwork, often using my work as a model to be emulated by the rest of the students.

The school noticed my natural talent for art. The school's director invited me to supply the artwork for the school’s newsletters. I drew my artwork on stencils reproduced on a “Gestetner” copying machine for distribution among parents and students.

I drew life objects at the boarding school. Christian brothers in charge became my willing objects. While the rest of the students were studying, I drew instead.

Nothing was spared when I was on the hunt for objects to draw. From humans, plants, and flowers to my resident boarding building that spanned three floors, they became my ready objects.

Spare pages in my schoolbooks became an excellent hunting ground for my artwork. When bored with a subject in class, I found myself doodling and creating artwork.

One of my doodle artworks that have withstood time, over 50 years ago

At thirteen years of age, my art teacher was a Franciscan brother. He introduced me to the art of drawing beautiful landscapes with vivid colours.

Back at home, I drew my family home with its colourful garden. I painstakingly drew it, taking time to draw the grills, doors and windows in precision. It was a tribute to my grandfather, who had built the ancestral home in the 1940s. I was to inherit it a decade later.

Creative people have good handwriting, another gift I acquired when I pursued this beautiful hobby. I represented the high school in an inter-school handwriting competition.

In high school, I studied science subjects. Art as a subject was not included in the science faculty. For the general certificate of examination, the science faculty prepared us only for seven subjects such as mathematics, chemistry and physics. Any student could sit for eight subjects on the exam. I had a spare subject I could sit for the exam. It was an opening of an opportunity to try out my creative interest.

I applied to sit am without formal preparations. Again, I went into the exam with no tutoring and practice. The subject of the exam test was to draw a musical band. I nailed the artwork despite being the only student who sat from the science faculty.

I got a distinction passed for art when the results came in. I was delighted. There was no effort toward this achievement except for the two hours spent on the exam.

I continued my foray into various forms of art. I drew my first-ever self-portrait in front of my mother’s dress mirror. I experimented further by drawing myself in the nude. I later learnt that my father came across that drawing and hid it.

In my late teen years, I started drawing pop stars on whiteboards. My friends admired them. Soon, I was asked to draw images for the local village carnival on church grounds. My drawings of pop stars adorned the walls of the record bar where people could request songs.

Many years later, as an adult, visiting art galleries was high on my leisure agenda when I travelled the world for work.

I continued my art habits throughout my life. I found time for it in between raising my beloved four kids.

I mostly drew with pencils. It provided an escape for me from my busy work in digital technology. It rejuvenated me when I got into art up to now.

When my kids were teenagers, I delved into photography. It was a natural progression for me from art to photography. Creative compositions and shapes became a natural feature in my photographs. I see art through my camera lens. It is a beautiful way of storytelling.

The artwork on the walls is mine. I painted the wall pictures in my houses myself. My kids became my willing and sometimes unwilling subjects. :)

My youngest is looking at her portrait created by her dad.

I involved my kids in design decisions. Together we selected colours and decors and created and painted wall pictures in homes I built in Australia.

When my young kids started working, I regularly caught up with them for lunch on a 1:1 basis. There was one time when we all worked in the central business district. It gave me immense joy to spend time with them, walk the art galleries and museums together and appreciate art.

I owe much of my success to my early foray into the arts. I became more humanistic. I became a dreamer. I could solve business problems creatively by thinking outside the box. As a leader, a coach and a contributor. I am now a budding writer. Being an artist was an incredible asset. Without art, I would not have survived.

Ironically, at the twilight of my career, I secured a job that involved working with many talented creative designers, writers and producers on digital media.

As a child, I was fortunate that my imagination went into overdrive with art and raised my expectations of life.

Enjoy a few of my artwork, including self-portraits, below:-