‘Wathone’ a.k.a. U Khin Hla was a prominent Burmese painter born in 1947 in, Yangon. He began his career in 1964, drawing magazine illustrations. One of his masterpieces is the ‘Linkadepa Chitthu’ comic strip.

He worked both with water and oils and exhibited his paintings in galleries in 1970. He was overtly fond of water color paintings. He learned Batik screening and painting from Ba Swe in Yangon and exhibited his art work in Seoul, Korea, in 1988 and in Philadelphia, US, in 1993. A short documentary video film made on his life won an international award.