Over 40 people attended the unveiling of Geoff Crocker’s portrait of Dr Yusuf Khalfan on Thursday night at the Light Horse Hotel.
Geoff thanked everyone for coming and recalled a conversation he had with Dr Khalfan the previous week: “We are both putting our backsides on the line here”, he said. Dr Khalfan asked “How’s that?” Geoff replied “I don’t know if anyone is going to turn up and that is going to make you feel pretty bad. When I unveil this, there might be people who say ‘I thought it was meant to be Dr Khalfan’.”
Both Geoff and Dr Khalfan’s reservations were put to rest when the crowd ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhd’ in appreciation of the work as the sheet was removed. Rapturous applause filled the room soon after.
Geoff said”The the truth is I don’t sign many paintings because I don’t consider myself an artist and my work not good enough.”
Geoff said the work took a couple of years due to the fact his creativity flows best between 6pm and 8pm. During that two hours, he cooks tea for himself and listens to the news whilst having a beer or wine before going to bed.
“Thank you very much for coming. Geoff, Jenny and I would like to thank you very much, it looks good its very good.” said Khalfan “Geoff has been a very good neighbour and we have talked about different things in the past. I have known Geoff for 8 years and find him very intelligent and very experienced. It’s a credit to Harden to have a person like him in the town. He has been a true friend. He is always there to give advice and he has been very good to my staff.”
Geoff joked “I needed somebody to keep me alive.”
The friendship between between the two men was evident for all to see on the night, and even more so in the quality of Geoff’s depiction of Dr Khalfan on canvas.
Pictured are Judy Pirie, Trish Shea, Jenny Khalfan, Geoff Crocker, Dr Yusuf Khalfan and Sue Leitner who were just a few of the people gathered to see the unveiling of Geoff Crocker’s portrait of Dr Khalfan at the Light Horse Hotel on Thursday afternoon.
