With an innate knack for drawing bursting out at the age of five, Sanath Rohana Wickramasinghe was noted for making marvels with pen and pencil. “In 1969, when I was a Grade 3 student at Mahinda College Galle, my Art teacher, Walter Panditha asked us to draw a ‘theme’ picture. As ‘Moon Landing’ was in the news then, that was my theme; Apollo-11 Moon Landing,” said Rohana.
As a scout, Rohana had to maintain a log book, the pages of which he illustrated with his drawings. He had the portrait of Father of Scouting, Lord Baden Powell and the Scout craft camping knots drawn in his log book.
He won a competition among the Sri Lankan scouts, and subsequently became scout leader of Mahinda College 1st Galle Troupe. In 1981, he got the opportunity to design the ‘125th Birth Anniversary of Lord Baden Powell’ stamp for the Sri Lanka Philatelic Bureau.
This stamp for the Sri Lanka Post Ministry had to be designed by a scout, which was a strict requirement of the Scout Chief Commissioner Hemapala Rathnasooriya in response to a proposal of the Headquarters Commissioner G.G. Windsor.
Marking the 125th anniversary of Father of Scouting, on May 24, 1982, Sri Lanka Post issued his first stamp and the first day cover designed in 1981 and printed in Russia.
In 1988, for the first time, the Sri Lankan Boy Scouts received an invitation from the Boy Scouts of America for a USA International Summer Camp program. Sanath and four other scout leaders were selected to work as International Scout members of the Boy Scouts of America. The President’s Scout badge here equals an Eagle Scout badge in the US. His camp area was New Jersey and he also visited his relatives in Ohio.
Sanath never thought he would be the stamp designer of, 20 years of Moon Landing in 1988, as he was in the US when they were celebrating the 20th anniversary of Moon Landing.
Returning to Sri Lanka, he continued designing stamps and received the President’s Scout Award from J.R. Jayewardene. When a stamp is designed for a special event or day, usually, the same designer has to design a first day cover along with the stamp. When designing such stamps related to space and communication, Sir Arthur C. Clarke had been the consultant for Sanath. Science, Communication and Technology have always been among his preferred themes and it is through these that he made twists in his art.
With the emergence of satellite communication in 1983 he designed a stamp for World Communication Year which was selected among the world’s best 10 stamps and subsequently, Australia did a publication which included these 10 best stamps. To observe 50 years of Man in Space he designed a stamp with Yuri Gagarin’s face.
In 1985, Sanath won the Duke of Edinburgh Youth Gold Award (conducted by the National Youth Council, Youth Award Division) for gaining four achievements, i.e. Scout service for the disabled, Sports achievement for wrestling, Expedition hike to Hiniduma and for his skill in designing stamps.
The Duke of Edinburgh Youth Gold Award was offered to him on the completion of these four categories.
Sanath has established ‘CEY – LAK Stamps Art Circle’ providing a platform for stamp collectors and for those interested in studying stamp designing. As part of this, on days with special digits such as 1999.09.09, 2002. 02.22 and 2011. 11.11, he has issued special commemorative covers with significant dates with the cancellation seal (date stamp) which are important for philatelists.
In celebration of their services, Sanath has designed commemorative stamps for renowned personalities such as, First Woman Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Dr. Lester James Peries, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Neil Armstrong, Gamini Fonseka, Henry Jayasena and Titus Thotawatta when they were alive.
In addition he has designed stamps for Arjuna Ranatunga, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins, Malini Fonseka and Punya Heendeniya.
Gifted in drawing and sketching, his talent has brought him to the present position as a creative art director and a freelance stamp designer, even though he had not anticipated such positions.