“Lake in Kashmir”
11.6 x 8.5 cm
HERE'S THE STORY
I made this painting for my dear friend Ijjaz Ahmed Rather of Kashmiri Treasuries. He had a shop in the souq (market) in Muscat for ten years and we became fast friends. So he wouldn’t miss home too much, I painted this from a photo off the internet. He said that this lake is so high up you can only hike or helicopter to it. Because Ijjaz’s family spins, weaves, and embroiders fine Kashmiri pashminas (scarves), I put some goats in the foreground just for him. After he returned to Oman from a month long visit home, I was surprised I didn’t see the painting in his Muscat shop. “Oh, no,” he said, “I took it home to Kashmir and it is hanging in my father’s house.” So now I have a piece of art in Kashmir and I have many pashminas from Kashmir in my house. A more than fair exchange.
