Barka
Susan and I were attending a Passport to Export networking meeting through UK Trade and Investment. We had just won free flights to Dubai courtesy of Emirates who were also at the meeting and had just started their flights from Newcastle to Dubai. This was going to be our springboard into working in the Middle East.
However our first trip to Oman in 2007 seemed to hang in the balance with Susan being in hospital not long before we were due to leave. Fortunately she recovered from what was a serious kidney infection and were able to travel around this inspirational country.
For this watercolour of local fisherman bringing in their catch onto the beach we had hired a taxi for half a day at a set price who took us to various sites. This beach scene at Barka was almost Biblical, the men wearing their white dishdashah, boats being pulled up onto the beach and lots of fresh fish being sold. The only clues that we were in the 21st century were the outboard motors on the boats instead of sails and the telltale ring of smart phones.
Once again, out came my sketchbook and I was able to paint rapidly in the heat, the watercolour paint almost drying as soon as it hit the paper.
Sketchbook Watercolours
It can sometimes be offensive in Oman to take photographs of people so I concentrated on my sketchbook watercolours with just a few discreetly taken photographs. It was during this trip that I forged a good working relationship with a lovely gallery in Muscat who commissioned me to paint a series of watercolours to publish as limited edition prints. The scenes included Omani Doors and dhows in Sur and a couple of these beach paintings. When we returned home, I made a start on these new works for our next trip the following year.
Sketchbook of Oman
I also started to deliberately paint on small sheets of watercolour paper, showing the deckled edges of the paper to create the effect that this was a page from one of my sketchbooks.
We also met an English couple in who were quite taken by my sketchbook watercolours of Oman. This led to a limited edition reproduction sketchbook of many of my Omani watercolours and many more fruitful trips to the Gulf.