After completing 6 years of art training at the St. Martin's School of Art London, Khalil Ibrahim returned to Malaysia in September 1966. During his return, Khalil Ibrahim began to experiment with the medium of batik, and exhibited some of his batik works at his solo at Samat Art Gallery in 1968. In this batik painting dated 1968, Khalil created a portrait of mother and child in earthy hues. The painting displays characteristics of his iconic portraits: figures with large, dark eyes and lively gaze expressed in smooth, lyrical lines created through the batik medium. 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.