U Than Myint Nyein works on a landscape painting near Pathein.

“I SEE everything as if it is a painting. Every view is beautiful to me.”

Although these words sound like they might have been spoken by a world-famous artist, in actuality they have a more humble origin: 62-year-old Pathein resident U Than Myint Nyein.

He is one of a group of about 20 artists from the town who regularly wander around Ayeyarwady Division looking for scenes of beauty to paint, in the hopes of creating masterpieces that will catch the eye of locals as well as tourists who pass through the area.

“Painting is what we want to do more than anything because it can say everything we want to say,” he said.

U Than Myint Nyein started studying painting the age of 15 under experienced artists from his native Pathein.

“I wanted to be an artist but it was tough to make a living from painting so I became a civil servant and worked at the telecommunications department,” he said.

“During that time I was transferred to many townships in Myanmar so I saw many scenes of natural beauty and observed many different ways of life,” he said.

Unfortunately his work kept him too busy to make paintings of what he saw so he had to be content with waiting until retirement to start rendering his observations onto paper using watercolours.

“Since I retired two years ago I’ve been able to make all the paintings I want,” he said.

U Than Myint Nyein said he usually travels around the division by bicycle or motorbike looking for scenes to paint with a few others from his group of fellow artists.

“I don’t go alone because I’m a bit afraid of wandering by myself,” he said, adding that he has met plenty of friendly and interesting people in the past two years while on painting excursions.

“People in Ayeyarwady Division are very interested in art, very motivated by it. They can feel it and understand it. I have met many art lovers,” he said.
But not all interest has come from art lovers.

U Than Myint Nyein told one anecdote about a time when he was drawing a picture of someone’s front yard on the outskirts of Pathein.

The owner of the property brought him food and drinks, making U Than Myint Nyein feel proud to be an artist and happy that the owner seemed to understand his creative work.

“The property owner sat and watched me draw for awhile. I was satisfied with the drawing of the yard but then the owner asked me to make the yard wider than it really was,” he said.

“I told him I couldn’t do that but the property owner explained that some of his land had been stolen by a neighbour and he wanted me to draw his yard the way it was supposed to be,” he said.

U Than Myint Nyein eventually realised that the property owner thought he was an official from the Settlement and Land Records Department rather than an artist.

“He wanted me to make a record of his yard and submit it to the head of the department so he could reclaim his lost land,” he said.

He said another time he had to walk 5 kilometres (3 miles) back home in bare feet because he had been so engrossed in painting a landscape that he did not notice someone steal his bicycle from only a few feet away.

“When I concentrate on painting I forget everything around me because I’m so delighted to be doing it. On that day when I came back to the real world I found that all my belongings had been stolen. I can’t describe how I felt,” he said.

U Than Myint Nyein said it is now easier to survive as an artist than when he started learning nearly 50 years ago because now he can sell paintings to tourists who visit nearby Ngwe Saung and Chaungtha beaches for US$15 to $30 apiece.

“Sales have been down a bit this year because fewer people are going to the beach but we will keep making paintings whether we sell them or not because it’s the best way we have of saying what we want to say,” he said.