Morocco: Marrakesh: two pochades

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Marrakesh

Marrakesh, motorcyclist, residential buildings, 23.5 x 28.8 cm - available

Marrakesh, a gateway,  oil on card, 18.8 x 21 cm - available

Marrakesh seemed less seedy, more touristy, less sinister and less interesting than when I was there a decade ago.

I alternated between black and white and colour across the Winter trip.

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Winter in Spain and Morocco- more details

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Winter in Spain and Morocco- more details

We leave in about six weeks, to visit. in sequence:

Marrakesh,

Sidi Ifni

Essaouira (probably)

El Jadida (probably)

Meknes

Tangier

Seville

Valencia

The weather here in Aberdeen has turned sharply colder, and it isn`t easy to go out comfortably.  Scotland in Winter is quite inhospitable. Moreover, the fact that I hate Christmas makes spending December in an Islamic country extremely appealing.

Northern Morocco tends to be rainy in the Winter, so we will spend most of our days in the Atlantic coast.

While in Morocco we stay in hotels, in Spain we have rented apartments. 

I`m getting boards ready: I`m thinking about continuing in black and white, at least for part of the trip.

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A Moroccan Adventure: Marrakesh

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Marrakesh is quite flat, dusty, peach coloured and dry. The buildings are low and the layout is incredibly confusing: there are few street signs; the souks are labyrinthine and there are no high buildings to use as visual references.

So getting lost is inevitable. But as the city is not enormous this is no great tragedy.

When I arrived in late February there were few tourists and it was most enjoyable, a month later it mas much too crowded and had a somewhat frenetic atmosphere. The city has few cars; and many artisan workshops and provides endless subject matter for painting.

I was hassled much less frequently, and less aggressively in Morocco than in my trips to Tunisia and Egypt where both trips were marred by people pestering me with offers of camel rides, hotels, taxis and items for sale.

I love painting from roofs, and from above, the falcon`s view:

 From the hotel roof, oil on card, 11.5 x 15 cm  NOT FOR SALE




This was taken by Gallery 5595 in lieu of commission for the Porty Art Walk exhibition with Jane Rutherford. Others went to  Rose Issa.

From the hotel roof  (with mosque), oil on card, 14 x 15.5 cm  available

The city is very coherent aesthetically, with very cubic, peach or ochre buildings, nearly all two or three stories at most, everything dusty or bruised:

Building with a phone box, oil on card, 17.5 x 15.2 cm   SOLD

A lane, oil on card, 16 x 15.5 cm   SOLD

This was sold as part of the Artists Support Pledge Scheme in June 2020

A yard, oil on card, 13.5 x 16.5 cm -  available

 A yard, above, makes me think of Guston, rather.

There was a successful run of paintings of Marrakesh`s huge market square:

 Cart and market, oil on card, 14.5 x 15.5 cm

This, above, is one of the best pictures I have ever done, I think.

Little mosque in the market square, oil on card, 14.5 x 15.5 cm   SOLD

 Marrakesh with the mountains beyond, oil on card, 15.5 x 13 cm  SOLD

Market, oil on card, 15.5 x 18 cm

Marrakesh is well served by parks and gardens:

Entrance to a park, oil on card, 14 x 17 cm - unavailable

There are endless shops and artisanal workshops, all wonderful for painting. Marrakesh is touristy, but much less mediated than places in Europe, and therefore considerably more alive.

Some shops, oil on card, 15.2 x 18 cm - available

A street near the hotel, oil on card, 13.5 x 18.5 cm - unavailable

Street selling cloth, oil on card, 15.5 x 12.5 cm  - available

A brickyard, oil on card, 14.5 x 15.5 cm   SOLD

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Preparing for Morocco

I've tried to improve the carriers by standardising their sizes so they can be packed more easily, and increasing their depth so paintings are less likely to be damaged when they are closed. I`ve also made the interior sections black, to better show finished paintings. I have increased the average size of the boards to allow me to paint in a freer, looser style.

I`ll stay in Marrakesh for a week, then head off to the Atlas mountains, probably Ouarzazate, before returning to spend a week or so in the UK.

I`m hoping that the locals aren`t as annoying as they were in Egypt, where they harass tourists almost constantly. If they aren`t, and Morocco proves good for painting, I might consider spending longer there in future-  Brazil in summer is really too hot to go outside much, and the country tends to come to a standstill between Christmas and Carnival- I find this tedious.