With Sir Arthur in retrospect
by Ananda Kannangara
Showing the large portrait of Sir Arthur C Clarke which was placed by
the side of his bier, a young artist told a group of media men that he
was very proud to draw a portrait of the eminent personality during his
17-year career as a painter.
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Sir Arthur C Clarke with Prashan Deepthi Kumara with a portrait
of Sir Clarke in the background |
Prashan Deepthi Kumara from Bandaragama who started his career at the
age of 13 while studying at Taxila Central College, Horana studied up to
the GCE (AL) Examination.
"During my school days, I used to sketch my friends and teachers," he
said.
He said many teachers in his school encouraged him to draw some
paintings for several art exhibitions held in school.
Prashan said he never stopped his favourite pastime even after
leaving school and he did portraits of famous personalities in society.
"I have done the portraits of former prime Ministers and presidents
including Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the present President Mahinda Rajapaksa,
Dr. Lester James Peris and his wife Sumitra, Tony Ranasinghe, Vijaya
Kumaratunga, Malani Fonseka, Victor Ratnayaka, H.R. Jothipala, Latha
Walpola, Nanda Malani, Premasiri Kemadasa and many more".
Prashan had also won an award for a painting, sent to the
Commonwealth Art exhibition held in London in 1992.
In 2003 Prashan said he was very fortunate to contact Sir Arthur C.
Clarke through a friend.
"At the first meeting, when I intimated about my ability to point
portraits, Sir Clarke wanted me to sketch one of him within a period of
five minutes and he was delighted with the sketch, thereafter he allowed
me to do a portrait".
He said Sir Clarke highly admired the portrait which he finished
within a few weeks and he kept it in his reading room, so that anybody
who visits him could have a closer look of it.
Prashan said Sir Clarke was very impressed with his painting ability
and presented him with several of his publications including "The
Fountains of Paradise", "The snow of Olympus", "Cradle", "The Ghost from
the Grand Banks" and "A Garden on Mars".
"In addition, Sir Clarke highly admired several of my paintings such
as the lion face on the Sigiriya rock, Isurumuniya lovers, the castle of
King Kassapa and his daughters Bodhi and Uthpalawanna which I painted
several years ago".
He said he had many plans to do some other paintings of Sir Clarke:
his loss was much felt.
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