"My paintings come out of my life experiences. They may be figurative and pictorial, but it’s my imagination that adds the details."

Known for his imaginative capturing of the ruins of Rajasthan, Choyal nevertheless manages to infuse them with contemporary concerns. The fort and havelis (mansions) of his native Rajasthan are a favourite subject and his often realistic depictions are evocative of the grandeur that they represent. The rather contradictory pulls of abstraction and realism seem to have been realised in his work.

Choyal was introduced to watercolours at eight by well-known artist Kalu Ram Sharma, but there were numerous turbulent experiences due to his observation of interpersonal relationships that also shaped his style.

His father refused him permission to leave the country even when the Hungarian artist Madame Balettiny, who’d noticed Choyal's work on her visit to Kota, invited him to Hungary. Later, he spent two years at the Slade College of Arts in London in 1961-62, after completing a bachelor's course at Jaipur's Fine Arts College and another course at Mumbai's Sir J.J. School of Art. Early in his childhood, Van Gogh influenced him, but Choyal confesses to being transformed by the works of Colt Stream, the dean of his college. It was Stream's unique way of applying thin colors on the canvas that influenced him.

Choyal won numerous awards including the prestigious National Award (Lalit Kala Akademi, '98) and is a forerunner of an artistic tradition that includes his son, daughter-in-law and grandson.

Yet, he wasn't the last painter in his family. The tradition is being carried forward by his son and daughter in law --- Shail and Surjeet.