To browse through a larger collection of Essaouira paintings, skip to my Essaouira portfolio page. For drawings, try the Wide Drawings post.
For an introduction to the local Had Draa market (which I have also painted), you could read this article on Explore Essaouira.
Boy on a Donkey
My very first images of Essaouira were made with coloured pencil or as ink drawings. They were all from my own references.
Halfway through 2020, a very good friend in Essaouira, Mr Regragui Aitbella, started sending me photos of local street life, both in town and in the nearby agricultural market, Had Draa. They tended to be taken in a hurry, as people don’t stand around to be photographed. That is a great thing for a painter, as (just with my own photos) there was still something for me to contribute. For example this image of a boy on his donkey was taken at a strange angle by Gragui’s son. The original boy was wearing a grey hoodie, which wasn’t a great focal point. You can tell the times we are in by the mask though. The pantherlike animal at his heels is probably a perfectly normal black dog in real life.
The setting for this image is beyond the Medina in what locals call the “autoroute”, which sounds like a motorway but isn’t quite yet.
Oasis Picnic
Beyond the medina (both the old, walled one and the new town) I have heard that when local country men go to trade at the market on a Sunday, women are left behind, so they sometimes go for a picnic in the oasis. In fact I did see them once, at a distance, and it looked very sociable and relaxing. Here they are, on their way, though I changed the left hand lady’s dark blue kaftan to a bright pink one. I love textiles, love sewing them and painting them
Master Potter of Safi
In 2019, I went on a trip, organised by Berberlands, to the city of Safi, to see the very best of Moroccan potters at work and to drool over their art. This is a very different experience from browsing the shops in Essaouira. I don’t think pottery is even made there (although marquetry is). Ziwani Jilali, is a master potter, in his 70s or 80s. He’s famous here and in Italy.
We toured his studios and saw a huge set of tableware on its way to a branch of the Saudi royal family. The workshop area covered quite a bit of the side of a hill, including at least one brick built kiln and a more modern electric one. I loved the big trough of muddy, slippy red clay, kept wet for use. There is a bowl of it ready on this workbench.
We watched as he pulled a perfect vase shape out of the clay. Here, he is making a lid for this pot. Once he sliced it off the top of the mound, it fit perfectly.
On the left is a selection of pieces in his shop. The glazes are very subtle. Each hue was as variable as watercolour and you could lose yourself in the patterns. I came away with two pieces, wrapped in
an Arabic newspaper and they are two of my treasures.
