Sketching Muscat Festival V

Serving food to the masses A5 sketchbook ©Sue Pownall 2012

I went to the Festival on Friday for an hour, but like long-weekends anywhere in the world, everyone and his granny was there. I completed the above sketch in an area next to the Heritage Village. This is where I normally grab a pancake-type Omani snack food smothered in date syrup (like strong honey). In the huge saucepans the ladies have traditional Omani dishes like harees which get served in small plastic containers and eaten with spoons, unlike the pancake thing which dribbles syrup all over the place, namely fingers and clothes. I sat on a wall at the end of the  cooking area and did a pied-piper of Hamlin, gathering a huge group of children around me. One girl did a good job of keeping my view clear, however I had to ask another one a couple of times not to lean on my arm - you can spot the wonky lines as it, naturally, was my drawing side.

The women where I buy my pancakes & date syrup.

In case you are wondering, I can afford to pop in and out of the Festival, not because I have a pass or masses of money, but because it costs only 0.200 bz per adult. As 1 Omani Rial is £1.64 or $2.59 that's a massive 32p, 39€ or 51c! How's that for good value?!

Today, was my first non-sketching visit. I arrived from work after 5pm and realised the temperature had dropped and there was a chilly wind. I had taken my scarf out of the car on the weekend and so was only in shirtsleeves. It was also grey and overcast making it seem kinda gloomy. I walked around and found a group of musicians to sketch but... my worse nightmare... I couldn't find my pen. I turned my bag inside out and back again, by which time the musicians had wandered off and was left clutching a biro, which along with a yellow highlighter (no idea how that got there) were the only pens in my bag. Thoroughly chilled and upset at the loss, I went for a pancake to eat on my way back to the car. There I found my pen tucked down the back of the passenger seat along with my eye drops and lipsalve. phew As there's no sketch for today, here's a photo of group of musicians and dancers, complete with bagpipe player, in the Heritage Village.

My next planned visit is on Tuesday, which is the first day of the Oman Food Festival, which is in the area where the Embassies Bazaar was held.