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Ghasan Muhsin, Iraq's ambassador to Bahrain is a quiet, distinguished personality whose life canvas is filled with a variety of images, colours and hues.
In his private life he is a professional and accomplished artist who enjoys singing, writing poetry, playing the flute and spending time with his family.
In his trouble-torn country Iraqi singers, actors and artists are fleeing the country after dozens have been killed by Islamic radicals determined to eradicate all culture they claim is associated with the West.
Understandably, Mr Muhsin finds it difficult to comment on the situation. He has been a diplomat for 40 years serving in Cairo, Abu Dhabi, New York, Islamabad as well as the kingdom. Reflecting on his work he said: "Diplomacy is difficult during wars and invasions. During wars the language of bullets rules.
"Iraqi people are experiencing a lot of suffering. In my art I put sadness behind me and focus on the optimistic picture of the future."
Describing himself as an optimist he liberally uses his favourite colours - turquoise, blue, green, gold, red and white, which he calls the 'royal colours' - to express his optimism for the future.
Abstract images combining floral and architectural motifs and traditional calligraphy come together in a brilliant combination to stop you in your tracks and absorb the moods of the painting.
Date palms, gold leaves, birds, Arabic doors - all significant aspects of his surroundings and environment grace his canvas that mirror in the artists words 'an accumulation of photographic memories of childhood experiences, cultural exposures and philosophical understandings of life'.
A career diplomat who has been a resident of Jannusan with his wife Maha Albaroodi for the past four and a half years, Mr Muhsin, 63, said: "I am always thinking about the future. I never think back and with every painting I receive and give tranquillity and optimism. I try to show a light or ray of hope through the sources of lights on my canvas.
"There is a point in everyone's life when they feel trapped and cannot get on ... the different sources of light in my paintings tell the viewer that there is more than one opportunity. They also represent the great galaxies of the atmosphere ... they look at the absolute creator and down inside the cell and tell us that we are not alone."
Mr Muhsin has to date created 900 pieces of art work, participated in 15 solo and 40 group exhibitions. His works, considered as part of Iraq's contemporary art, grace the walls of Bahrain National Museum, private homes, corporate houses and cultural institutions. Art critics say his paintings "speak to the viewer with strength and conviction even if its language is perforce and indirect" .
His paintings are influenced by different styles and cultures particularly by influences of the Indian sub continent where he spent six-years in Pakistan and travelled and exhibited in India. While some of his works have large blank spaces others have every centimetre flooded with textures and details.
He explained: "I don't follow the mood or the contemporary trend of painting. I feel I have a compulsive urge to paint ... give it detailed patterns and create constructive chaos. Every one of my paintings is unique ... people have started recognising my strokes and styles. It is not isolated from human artistic development and I can like a bird sing along and with its flock."
Mr Muhsin was exposed to art and culture since childhood. He was born in Nassariyah, Iraq, and was educated in Baghdad and New York. His father was a soldier who also played the flute, violin, mandolin and oudh.
Young Ghassan picked up a paint brush inspired by the vibrant colours of the New York autumn in the mid-70s. He said: "I am very sensitive to the environment. In my paintings you will see Iraq's mountains, mosques, deserts, rivers and lakes. Painting is a part of me an unending profession that I will never stop until death."
Diplomacy and painting are equally important in Mr Muhsin's life. "They are my two wings and something I am closely connected to as a person. Both art and diplomacy can bring peace, understanding and begin a dialogue. Art has been a language of all the ancient civilisations. It's through art that we understand the pharaohs, Babylonians and our own origins.
"Love and tolerance are the strongest arms a man can have. Great people and leaders were always tolerant. Mahatma Gandhi was a tolerant and forgiving person who was a victim of intolerance.
"I like Bahrain. It gives me tranquillity and the area I live in is very quiet. The environment is happy and people are culturally rich."
He has three sons and three grandchildren. The eldest of his sons is a civil engineer in the US, the second is a dentist in the Bahrain Defence Forces and the third is a university student in Bahrain.
While Mr Muhsin is happy receiving positive criticisms he said his toughest critique is none other than his wife, Maha. A painter who likes to work in the open in the presence of his family he says that the best comment he has ever received is from a little girl at an exhibition who loved his work so much she told him that she hoped to paint "just like him" one day.
