Moroccan Inspiration

I really wanted to do some Moroccan inspired pieces after my trip in January. The place was so rich in colors and imagery. Camera candy everywhere you look.

I'm in the habit of picking up bits from the streets and sidewalks everywhere I go now. My biggest criteria being that it won't rot or it's not plastic. (now that I have this patina treatment I may have to revise that edict if it's an interesting plastic shape and I can make it look like metal)

On our last day in Marrakech I suddenly realized that I hadn't picked up a little gifty for someone that had put in a request for something from our travels. This involved a hurried walk back to the market area to do some last minute shopping. I had been eyeing leather slippers (round toed) but hadn't been in the mood to engage in the bargaining process with vendors. I found the bargaining to be much more hard core and less fun than the easy going bargaining that I've been accustomed to in Thailand. Luckily we found a fixed price shop of artisans' wares. We knew we'd have to pay a bit more but it would shave the time involved in bargaining off of our dwindling schedule. We had a shuttle to catch to the airport soon.

I am a swift shopper and had my little pumpkin colored leather slippers, some beautiful aubergine tassels and a few other goodies in hand in record time.

On the way back to the hotel I scanned the sidewalk for my last chance at some enchanted bits of Morocco.

I thought that rose petals, a feather and some braided trim would go nicely on the flattened can with an image from a school book and a Moroccan coin. I mounted this against a round oak wooden piece from an antique store, an image of an arabic calendar, a piece left from our bamboo kitchen flooring project and hammered some copper to finish it off.

Some More Images Collected in Morocco

An assortment of booklets and posters and children's workbooks and litter picked up off the ground in Marrakech.

I'm not sure when this storybook was dated since it was in Arabic but the style looks to be 60's or earlier. I was captivated by these odd illustrations.

Time to Jump in Again

I brought a postcard size watercolor paper pad along on the trip and did a bit of drawing and experimenting with watercolor crayons and multicolored pencils. It's a medium that I haven't employed much over the years. I thought it would be a good stretching exercise since I wouldn't have any of my favorite supplies along with me. Portability was a priority in this case.

Several "Portals" I've encountered in my travels incorporated into one. A Balinese Gate, Moroccan archway and medieval doorway.

Inspired by a mosaic pattern.

Archways and hexagons and trying out a little of my indigo pigment from the souk.

"Doggerel" A snippet from a Moroccan storybook and applied to some backing from a thrift store frame, suitably distressed. I just love the expression on the dog's face.

I barely know where to start up on this blog again! I have so many images and stories, not to mention ideas I had before I even went on this journey. Here are a few sketches done at cafe tables and hotel rooms. The "Doggerel" piece I put together since I've been home just to get my feet wet.

I've had one good day in the bead studio and uploaded most of my picture albums and unpacked so I think I'm doing well so far. I have to catch up on other's blogs as well since my internet time was limited and I had so much to process already just catching up on my own days that were packed full of images and experiences. I thought it best just to jump in and post a few things just to get started again. We'll see how this unfolds!

Tajine Pots

These were along the mountain village road advertising tajines in the roadside cafe. They steam the food in these clay pots. The entree is called a tajine, usually with chicken or vegetables with seasoning.

My Quest

Something that I like to look for when I'm traveling is local ephemera. I really scored in Lyon, France at an antique bookstore. Most of the books with the vintage illustrations I crave were way too many Euros for this girl's budget and were too valuable to do any repurposing. I like to find pieces of books or workbooks and advertisements that have the quality vintage images from early to mid 1900's. ( I guess that turn of the century isn't such a specific term anymore!) I did manage to find a couple of booklets for an affordable price and asked the proprietor in my limited botched French whether there was any "ephemere" for under 5 Euros. Imagine my thrill when she went into the back room and brought out a huge folder with old advertisements and partial children's booklets for me to pore through! I got a collection of a series of wonderfully illustrated children's booklets from 1927 thru 1930. Classic French illustrations of little girls in flapper era dress. Since they were incomplete I got a tremendous deal on them. Even the proprietor agreed. My quest was complete!

Once we got to Morocco I was hoping to find a stationery type store that would have children's learning materials such as charts and illustrated workbooks as they seem to usually be illustrated in a more vintage style even if they are new.

I had an unfortunate experience on Etsy ordering some illustrated charts from India from Nutmegclick. She never delivered my order and then closed shop with many dissatisfied customers. I guess I'll have to go to India and pick some up myself one day.

Meanwhile I'm on the quest for something along that line from Morocco. On our second day in Marrakech we get caught up in a burro jam along a narrow alleyway. The burros are putting up a big fuss with braying and won't budge. It was rather hilarious to hear the motorbikes and cars honking to no avail. Somehow the clog broke free and there on my left was a display outside with charts and workbooks. I think I've gotten my husband into the quest as he insisted on getting a Berber/Arab language poster. I picked up a small religious booklet in Arab script with some illustrations that most likely are instructing boys about piety. I also found a story book with some really great illustrations, kind of out of proportion yet interesting and quite dated looking yet I couldn't determine if it was an old book or not but it had the quality of images I'm after. (I'm thinking that the illustrations were probably from the 60's) I even went back today to see if he had anymore and picked up another.

A bonus of the nearly 10 miles we walked today was some litter I picked up which were pages in Arabic from a child's workbook. I had a few people staring at me as I scrambled around in the light rain picking up the garbage.

Spices of Course!

Everybody has to take a picture of the wonderful spices!

Pigments and Herbs in the Souk

This wonderful shop had ground pigments, herbs, oils, perfumes and salves and even a section of lucky charms for your amulet bag, strange furry bits and bats.

Going Out To See the World

Just getting my last things together for our trip to Spain, France and Morocco and suddenly I think of things like bringing business cards. Of course I don't have any of that nice perforated cardstock specifically for business cards on hand so some nice lightweight paper, hand cut will have to do.

Then at the last minute I realize that I haven't thought of a suitable journal to bring. These days I'm thinking a simple wirebound pad isn't good enough after all of the wonderful altered art journals I've been perusing lately.

I've been amassing many weathered tomes but most of them have content that's too good to write over and I'm thinking that one that's more blank will be better. I found a red vinyl covered accounting book that was just a bit too utilitarian looking. If I cut the vinyl off I'd have some nice cardboard pieces to embellish underneath. Unfortunately I cut too much off and the cardboard wanted to fall out. Then I had a choice between red or silver duct tape. So the book regained the red background again but with a tad more funky texture. I found a nice vintage page from a children's book to dress it up.

I know it's fairly simplistic for an art journal but it will do in a pinch. Hopefully the interior will flourish with my entries.

With my husband's new Eee PC that he got for Christmas I won't have to lug my laptop around and hope to be able to blog some on the trip. I should have lots to show and share.!