Artists’ tryst with nature and emotions

A motley group of artists from the Governorate of Dhofar participated in a painting workshop to hone their skills in oil painting. The workshop, held at the Sultan Qaboos Youth Complex for Culture and Entertainment, mesmerised the visitors with the true expressions of nature, emotions and human action illustrated through the paintings. [gallery ids='566257,566256,566255'] The humble painters claimed to have learnt the art of painting under the guidance of Amani al Faqih, an expert in acrylic and oil painting. “Such events work as morale booster for new artists like us and inspire us to come out with better paintings after getting to see others works and their style of painting,” said Hayat Saad, who has been doing serious painting for the last five years. The event was organised by the Salalah chapter of the Oman Society of Fine Arts (OSFA) in which some 18 artists displayed their paintings and worked on them. All the participants were young members of the OSFA displaying the true spirit of art. Ahmed al Mashikhi, Assistant Manager OSFA Salalah, was happy over the painters’ gathering due to its timing and viewership the paintings got from international participants and some VIPs, who had come to Salalah to take part in some conference or the other at the same venue. “Khareef is the time when everyone is in good mood. It is good time for the artists to interact with a variety of people. The visitors not only encourage the artists, but some of them have real interest in art and culture. When they appreciate, the art gets commercial dimension and boosts the artists,” Al Mashikhi said. “There was no theme for the exhibition and the young painters were encouraged to bring their best in oil painting. We were surprised to see their spontaneity and response. A large number of them turned up and only the best out of them were selected for the exhibition, as the idea was to encourage new members to join OSFA,” he said. The trainer, Amani, was happy over the standards of the participating artists, as most of them had passion for art and had understanding about painting. “I guided them wherever I found the techniques missing but tried to maintain their originality,” she said. Abrar Salem, another participant in the exhibition, was happy over the support she was getting from OSFA in terms of facilities and guidance and for her “Amani is an excellent trainer. A trainer who teaches with passion. She easily makes us understand the finer points, which we would have missed by not being here,” she said and admitted that the workshop was interesting and a great learning experience for her. Al Mashikhi, who is the head of Salalah OSFA, said the association has lined up many activities for 2019 season and receiving good number of expression of interests from prospective participants.