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Although several children had sent in some lovely pieces created with their tiny hands for our visual delight, one could not but marvel at the creations of this humble octogenarian gentleman, who would certainly have many tips to share with the young budding artists, one surmised. Sure enough, on the following day, it was the accomplished artist himself, who was waiting at the entrance of art centre, eager to meet and provide inspiration to all the budding young contributors! The children were thrilled to find the senior-most amongst them showering praise for their work and suggesting improvements to help them progress further in their chosen arts. We had a brief chat with him during that first interaction, when we learnt that he had been actively pursuing the hobby ever since he had retired and eventually the hobby had turned into a passion.
It was then that we had planned to meet up with this great artist sometime – we needed to know more about him and his works and more importantly, my daughter Supriya could do with some guidance in her pet hobby. But the rigours of routine workplace and her studies meant that we put this off for later. Finally, we acted on our plans and called him up one weekend, with a request – could we spend some time at home with him – and maybe learn something? “Sure”, was the quick reply, “but only for a couple of hours, as I have a meeting to attend later”. So we went along with Mr. Chetan Pandit and his wife Chitralekha, our family friends and also keen art enthusiasts, who eagerly wished to meet up with him.
After the warm greetings, we quickly came up with our first request – we had seen only a few of his lovely creations a couple of years ago – and now we wished to see them all! This led to a marvellous treat – a slide show of several of his paintings captured on camera on their LCD TV – as master-pieces popped up on the screen to find awe-struck viewers desperately trying to keep their jaws closed during the session! It was a truly mind-blowing visual treat for us!
Shri Savkoor had been employed with Union Bank of India and had a transferable job that had required them to pick up their belongings and move to several places covering almost all states of India during his tenure with the Bank. He had cultivated his hobby early in life, but it had been hard work to begin with. He had not received any formal education in the arts nor had he joined any classes to hone his skills – it was basically self-taught. Perhaps we could say that Mother Nature herself was his true guru! Mastering the art meant trying out several landscapes with plain sky, seas and land over and over again – and if it did not come out as he wished it – out it went!
“How do you manage to produce such life-like paintings?” we asked. There was silence, but the answer could be found in his penchant for perfection. “If it doesn’t impress me I just tear it up. Don’t labour over a spoilt piece – if it isn’t coming right – just chuck it out and try another – or maybe sometime later”,, he advised. But obviously only practice makes perfect. We got several tips as he spoke to us - how to practice on small bits of cardboard paper that come with some wedding invitation cards; the kind of paper, acrylic paints, pencils, brushes that he preferred over others, how the brush-strokes should move; where to do the detailing and where not to – and more.
Although some of the early works had been portraits, most of his recent creations have been landscapes - usually acrylic paints on paper. “Observing nature is a pre-requisite for perfecting landscapes – have a close look at the clear blue sky with white clouds, monsoon-laden clouds during a storm, the sky during sunrise or sunset, the different hues that one sees in different seasons and times of the day, the trees, the terrain in rural settings before you venture to create your landscape.”
But eager art enthusiasts had more questions coming up – “Do you paint the background first or the tree?” “How do you get all these reflections in the water just the way they ought to be?” “How do you get the effect of the sunlight through thick foliage here?” But the octogenarian artist seemed to be more than happy to answer all these questions, for, as time passed, he forgot all about the meeting he wanted to attend! “It is not so important for me to attend it, i gather” he explained gently, to his delighted guests.
Now that he was retired, he would have all the day to himself for pursuing his passion, but he gets his inspiration mostly at nights – often, he finds himself painting late into the night unmindful of the time – and catch up with his sleep during the day. Daytime also happens to be his time to relax – which incidentally comes from his other hobby – he plays his Sitar whenever he can and his Guru comes over once in a week to teach him his favorite ragas even to this day!
Finally, we had a photo-session – some select paintings that we found remarkable, some pics of the master himself, at his work as usual – all to be posted in my blogpost for your viewing pleasure! It was a meeting that will be most cherished by us – and will be hard to forget in a long time to come! We do hope and pray that Shri Shyamsundar Savkoor is bestowed with good health and he continues to enthral us with more of his lovely paintings in the days to come!
The humble, eager-to-help octogenarian artist, Shri Shyamsundar D Savkoor.
The artist at work.
Pictures of some of his spectacular creations below
Blogger's Post-script: The camera flash may have played spoilsport in some pics, although yours truly tried to avoid it by attempting a different angle this time around! Do post your comments which will be passed on to the artist from time to time.
UPDATED ON 08/08/2011 - More pics of his landscape paintings posted in a new post link here.
