Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Sketching Muscat Festival VIII

 Traditional game near central stage in Heritage Village A4 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 
Having decided I wanted to capture some complete scenes from the Festival, I took my A4  sketchbook with me last night. I really like sketching this size now, but I have found it's not convenient for grabbing quick sketches of people. On arrival I headed straight to the men's seating area and inked then painted the central area, leaving the rest of the paper blank. Under the blue tarpaulin are the seats where the tv presenters sit when the area goes live at 6.30 every night. The Festival was strangely quiet, maybe due to it being St Valentine's day, partially as there were less participants from the night's region. Whilst I sat there several people took my photo, again, and at one point two Iranian artist sat either side of me so their friend could take a picture of the 3 of us. By that stage I had inked in some boys playing a traditional game and the troupe of gentlemen, who came past singing and drumming, but I had lost concentration through trying to talk to the Iranians and smiling for their photos, so went to get my usual cup of tea. Therefore, I broke my own rule and added the colour to the figures when I got home making this only 90% completed on site.

I'd like to thank everyone who has been commenting on this series of sketches. I really appreciate you taking the time to stop by. The festival still has a week to run, so there are lots of sketching opportunities to come and so lots more posts.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I am enjoying the sketching.