Lobed Arches: Painting in Marrakech
I want to share some of my watercolors from my recent trip to Marrakech with you. There are quite a few, so I thought to share them just a few at a time to better enjoy them and to tell their individual stories.
The Lobed Arch, Marrakech
10 x 8″
Watercolor on Paper
SOLD
The archways of Marrakech are many and beautiful in their varied shapes and colors. We had several rainy and overcast days our first week there, so I strategically sought out places to paint no matter the weather.
This lobed arch was magical to me and not something I ever have the chance to see and paint in Italy. This arch leads out of the markets onto a normal residential street and I loved the darkness moving into the light and the wonderful shapes the lobes created.
With my little stool I set up to paint next to one of the many shops tucked under the arch, making sure not to block the door. It was a sleepy morning and the shopkeepers were watching, but were kind and did not want to chat too much.
At a certain point the man whose store I was next to asked me, “are you going to be here long? Well, awhile” I replied, unsure of if I was blocking his storefront.
He then asked if I wouldn’t mind to watch his shop while he went to the mosque around the corner, it was the call to prayer. I turned to look at him more closely, wondering if he was kidding, but no, he was dead serious.
“What if someone wants to buy something?” I asked and he replied with a simple wave of his hand, “oh sure, go ahead and just sell anything someone wants to buy.”
I almost fell off my stool, trying not to laugh at his complete sincerity and trust he was placing in me. He didn’t wait for me to say any more and took off, turning the corner towards the mosque.
Well, I finished my painting and didn’t know what to do or how long I would need to stay there. The man from the shop next door came out and saw me standing there contemplating what to do.
He told me not to worry about it, that he would watch the other man’s shop and that I could be relived of my duty as shopkeeper for the morning.
In chatting to this new shopkeeper he told me that this was a special alley, did I recognize it?
No, I did not I told him, why would I?
This exact place was in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much, and the story didn’t stop there. In fact, he told me, Marrakech is where Hitchcock got the idea for his most famous move The Birds while sitting on his rooftop terrace one evening in the city while birds dived over his head.
Now weather or not this story is true, I was loving it! So I decided to stay awhile and paint another, this time from the street looking back into the arch with the shops.
Into the Souks, Marrakech
7 x 10″
Watercolor on Paper
$200 matted | Available
It is hard to describe the color sense of Marrakech, but it is truly wonderful, they have a dazzling sense of color.
The buildings are all pink and it is a different pink from the pink in Rome or Tuscany or anywhere I can remember having painted pink. It was nearly impossible to mix this color. Every time I added more yellow it was too orange. Then when I added cadmium red it was too warm, then with rose or madder lake or alizarin the red turned too cool. So this is my interpretation, my best version of the pink covering all of Marrakech.
The pink is because of the oxidized clay that comes from the Atlas mountains which is used to make every building everywhere and fades to the prettiest of pinks you can imagine.
Every day of painting here was an adventure of the best kind. Thanks to the residents of this ancient city, they always reached out and made me feel at home, as though it was completely natural to be sitting in their streets and in front of their shops painting.