Fès mosaics

Next stop: Fès. We visited a ceramics workshop, just outside town, where they made tajines (earthen cooking gear) with beautiful and intricate Moorish decorations.
And a mosaic worker, cutting miniscule fitting parts on a circular plate. I managed to make this sketch in maybe 10 minutes, as long as the guide would allow me.
The artisan (his name was Mohammed) liked my drawing a lot.

Chrysler New Yorker

A very quick drawing of a Chrysler New Yorker, about 1973. I made this a week ago, at  the Cruise-in in Brunssum, but had no chance to post this earlier.

Day 2: Meknes

We spent the hottest part of the afternoon in Meknes, roaming through the souks and market places. All smells and colours, a feast for eyes and nose. We also had lunch there, in a covered atrium, with beautiful decorated walls and ceilings, in Andalusian or Moorish style. I don'tthink I will be abe to retrace that restaurant, Meknes is like a labyrinth.
I barely managed to make the pendrawing on location, the group moved forward far too quickly, I painted it in the hotel later that evening.

Day 2: Volubilis

Day 2: it was gruelling hot. Over 40 degrees celsius. The wind was hot in our faces, and very dry.
We drove out to Meknes, and after that to Volubilis, an excavated Roman city.
This is the Basilica (covered market building), as seen from the Capitol.
I drew the plan afterwards, in the bus.
The paper is rather smudgy, that is what you get with travel journals.

Day 1: Rabat

We drove to Casablanca and visited its Hassan II mosque (the largest in this part of the word). I amde a sketch but it's not worth showing here. Instead, in the early afternoon we drove to Rabat, and visited the old Medina. Very beautiful. But as the group proceeded very fast, there was no time to sketch, only this one of the walls surrounding the Medina.
I made the pensketch while we were waiting for the group to assemble, and cross the busy road to our bus, maybe 2 minutes. Painted it immediately afterwards in the bus.

I could not resist posting this picture, the view over the beach of Rabat as seen from the Medina.

Allfa Romeo Julia

Alfa Romeo Julia Spider Veloce. 1965.
This beautiful car was standing at a meeting of vintage cars. I always wanted to draw this car, so this was a very welcome opportunity. It was also a rather difficult car to draw, all these curved lines, no room for mistakes.

Anyway, it went well, I am content with the drawing. And so was the German owner.

I made another sketch of an 60's american car, but I'll have to scan and post it later.

Day 1: Marrakesh-Casablanca

We arrived in Marrakesh late in the evening on Sunday, we would visit the city at the end of the roundtrip, so we left early in the morning to Casablanca.
Our group consisted of 7 Dutch, of all ages, but our guide was Moroccan: Youssef.
I made this sketch halfway Marrakesh and Casablanca, looking out to the barren fields ridden with cacti, and occasional herded flocks of sheep.
And little adobe (mud) farms/houses, like this one. I saw it when we were slowly driving by (due to road works), but I had my sketchgear ready, and was able to make the drawing right away from memory. It took maybe 5 minutes.

Homesick

We just returned from a 8 day-roundtrip through Marocco. I will post and tell about the trip the coming few days.
This drawing was made on the Amsterdam airport, while going through the usual waiting hours before departure. I did not want to draw the usual docked planes, and looked for something else.
This Asian woman was sitting opposite of us, concentrated on her cellphone, oblivious of the world around her. Only when I was halfway the drawing, I realised that each time she was texting, she was silently crying, hiding the tears in her eyes. In the end, I don't think she realised I drew her, and obviously I did not want to disturb her further.

Lunchime doodle

Not much decent drawing lately. I prefer spending the warm long evenings sitting on the veranda with long barbecues with friends and family, or reading good books.
I made this one during lunchbreak today; it was raining a little, so I did not go out for a walk.