The Artist Who Wasn’t

Getting an elderly person involved in some type of creative activity can help improve both quality of life and mental functioning, say experts. Guru Nath proves this with his zeal to learn art.

  Until three months ago, Guru Nath, a 76 year-old former electrical engineer never thought of himself as an artist. It was then that he discovered the talent in him through the master strokes of Australian artist Len Hend, delivered via videos on his website. Guru Nath is now a self-taught acrylic painter. So strong has been his artistic calling that today he is propagating art to other pensioners and encouraging them to take up painting as a hobby through his self-designed website www.arts4aged.com. “Children aren’t the only ones who can benefit from creative activities such as art, writing, and dance. In some cases, getting an elderly person involved in some type of creative activity can help improve both quality of life and mental functioning,” says his website.  

Based out of Chennai, Guru Nath primarily leads a solitary life as his two children are settled abroad and he visits them every six months. He led most of his growing years in Mumbai and Scotland and studied to be an electrical engineer at Edinburgh University. His working years were spent in Scotland from where he returned to India as a UK pensioner. Settled comfortably in his Chennai home for the last 20 years, Guru Nath has been spending his time on various projects – helping fisher folk with developing efficient fishing crafts, earthworm breeding projects, etc.

So how did art come into his life? “I have always been interested in art and had been looking at various painter’s websites for last ten years but found nothing appealing. Recently when I was in Singapore with my daughter, I came across Len Hend’s website and found that painting can be easy and fun. Henceforth, started my artistic journey. “Today all my paintings are bought by my friends and family and are sold in the range of Rs.900 to Rs.1800,” he adds. Nath’s talents are not limited to painting as he is a carpenter too and makes his own frames for the paintings. He has also come up with an innovative idea to use paper plates as palettes with disposable linings.

Nath is now a man on a mission and wants more and more seniors to come forward and experiment with art. “It is contagious. You won’t leave it. I can bet on it,” he says with aplomb and continues, “It is easy for anyone to pick it up and at any age.” He promises to help all those interested through his website and has recently introduced supply of basic learning videos by Len Hend in DVD format, free of cost. The painter has agreed to the reproduction of his learning videos and has agreed to donate advanced DVDs for further learning. But this is not all. Nath plans to help all budding artists generate income and also boost their confidence by helping them sell their paintings. He dreams of approaching corporates with paintings from pensioners and also plans to hold an exhibition as well as sell them online at international galleries. Arts4aged has a gallery page where paintings are available on sale.

So if you are looking at acquiring a new skill and keeping yourself engaged in your silver years, do leverage Nath’s help and have fruitful years ahead. Also if you are a supporter of seniors do show them your support by buying their paintings.

For more details please log onto www.arts4aged.com. Enrolment is easy and free of cost.

Photographs: Silver Talkies