PHILIP BOUCHARD
SUNSET AT BIR HIMA
Oil on canvas 163cm x 214cm
(Private Collection)
This painting is taken from sketches that I produced on the three-month journey with archaeologists to the S.W.Region of Saudi Arabia in 1980. The view in this painting is of the desert at Bir Hima. I felt that this image perfectly captured (to me at least, as an artist) what a desert should look like. In the distance on the crest of the hill on the right is a ‘tumulus’. Leading up to the tumulus is a deliberately placed line of rocks forming a ‘tail’ leading up to it. These can be seen from a great distance. Bir Hima is located about 200 km North East of the city of Najran and is well known for its Petroglyphs (‘Rock Art’). For more information please click on http://saudi-archaeology.com/sites/bir-hima/