Khalil established his own style of capturing the lives of the East Coast fishermen concentrating on the movements of each figure. This scene evokes the feelings of communal life, showing fishermen dressed in kain pelikat at work. The subtle changing movements of the sea water is suggested at the horizon line. Khalil Ibrahim graduated with a National Diploma of Design in Fine Arts at the prestigious St. Martin's School of Art and Design in London in 1964 (post-graduate in 1965). He turned into a full-time artist in 1966. Khalil was a co-founder of the Malaysian Watercolour Society and had his first double solo of London works and Malaysian batiks at Samat Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 1970. That year, he also had a solo exhibition in Indonesia, the first Malaysian to have done so. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Switzerland and his works have been collected by the National Museum in Singapore, Fukuoka Museum of Art in Japan, New South Wales Museum of Art in Sydney, and the Royal National Art Gallery of Jordan.