Jamshedpur, March 4: After his “anamorphosis” painting of US president George Bush earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, Awtar Singh Virdi is back at work. This time, the artist has found himself another challenge. Virdi spends hours trying to master the “scratch art” and is confident that another world mark is in the offing.

Sixty three-year-old Singh's 10x10 feet “anamorphosis” painting won him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records last month. Soon after, began his search for newer horizons.

”The honour only egged me on to tougher challenges. I finally zeroed in on scratch art,” he said.

A sheet of metal (steel or aluminium), a pencil and scrubbing paper are all that is required for this rare form of art.

But the primitive material belies the intricate workmanship that the art demands.

“It looks very simple but one has to understand the commitment and labour that goes in to produce an image on a sheet of metal. The hallmark of scratch art is that a painting reflects a prism of colours when one looks at it from various angles,” Singh explained.

“I plan to make portraits of distinguished personalities with this art,” Singh told The Telegraph.

Poring over the bundles of metal sheets and scrubbing papers that he has bought, Singh said, “I have several names in my mind including J.R.D. Tata, George Bush, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee I have already completed the image of JRD,” the artist said.

Though Virdi admits that scratch art will take some time to capture on the imagination of connoisseurs of art, he will make another pitch for a Guinness record.

Arguably the only artist of anamorphosis painting in the world, Singh, a former employee of Tata Steel, wants to open an art school to fine tune the talents of artists who have a flair for rare art.

“I am on the hunt for sponsors who can help me realise my dream project. I want to create a chain of artists of anamorphosis painting as there would be no exponent of this art after me,” he said.

Talking about his brush with Guinness fame, Singh said he was informed through e-mail that his entry of anamorphosis painting has been accepted by the London-based Guinness Book panel.

“I was terribly excited. But that did not last long as I soon received a missive stating that they needed a 10x10 feet painting of a famous personality. Well, I managed to meet that criterion and it finally won me a place in the record books,” he recalled.

He added it took him more than three months to complete the painting of George Bush on a large canvas. “I had to arrange for a bigger room to finish my work. It was hard work, but the result more than made up for that, ” Singh said .