Artists depict happiness with longest watercolour painting
dubai — Over 100 artists from about 60 countries gathered in Dubai for the UAE’s first and largest event dedicated to watercolour painting, called ‘Happiness in Watercolour’.
The four-day festival also saw artists create the longest watercolour painting ever done in the UAE. Using six rolls of canvas paper — 10 metres each — these artists (included locals as well as visitors) created a 60-metre long painting roll that included several paintings done by these artists simultaneously, in just three hours.
The event was held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Faisal Al Qasimi, and was organised by the International Watercolour Society (IWS) UAE at Al Zahra Hospital Dubai. The painting will be sold to raise funds for charity, at a separate event to be hosted by IWS.
Al Qasimi said: “We are very happy to host the international waterolour festival, that has been going on for more than 10 or 15 years. It is truly a global event in a truly global city like Dubai, where we managed to welcome guests such as the Turkish, Indonesian, Malaysian and Indian ambassadors.”
Talking about thhe purpose of the event, amateur artist Dr Yaser Habrawi, who is also an opthalmologist at Al Zahra Hospital, Dubai, said: “The festival aimed to promote happiness and unity through art in line with the theme of the festival — happiness. It was a beautiful experience to see an array of artists covering different subjects in one painting.
“The world record for the longest such painting is over 60m. Although we didn’t break the world record, we managed to create a record within the UAE for the longest water colour painting. This was not a competition, but a festival celebrating happiness and watercolours.”
An excited visitor at the hospital, Sunil P, said: “I was delighted to see the most mesmerising watercolour event here in Dubai. It is a novel concept to see a painting exhibition and workshops held in a hospital.”
The first part of the event was held on the premises of Al Zahra Hospital (in the auditorium and outdoors) and some of the activities were held at the Cartoon Art Gallery in Al Qouz.
The festival featured painting workshops, free live demonstrations, and plain air painting sessions (outdoor painting) at various locations in the UAE, conducted by well-known contemporary watercolorists, including Alvaro Castagnet.
The festival also saw an exhibition of over 300 paintings by artists from across the globe based on the themes of happiness and the UAE’s different facets.
saman@khaleejtimes.com