"Djemma el Fna, Marrakesh"

10" x 17" oil on masonite

So this is a painting of the Djemma el Fna square in Marrakesh, Morocco- just before they start setting up all the barbeques and tables and lights, and you're getting really hungry for lamb or whatever, and you've only had orange juice in the hours between your breakfast and this moment, because you're a little embarrassed to come down off the roof of your hotel because you were convinced to buy a jaloba that is like a big ladies' dress, and you wear your Fanny Pack underneath the dress, so you end up looking like a pregnant tourist man, even though the idea behind purchasing the jaloba in the first place is so that you would blend in. And you really don't blend in.

But now, here in Canada, you're remembering what it was like, years ago, to really sleep on the rooftop of the hotel because it was cheaper, and you remember how that pretty French girl, who was also sleeping on the roof, noticed you sketching in your sketchpad and wanted her portrait done; and you were nervous, and you were trying so hard, and she was waiting forever, and you just stared in horror as your own drawing turned out worse and worse. And you watched yourself draw a picture of an aging Cro-Magnon woman, and here in front of you was this real live beautiful French girl, waiting in the sun, on a rooftop in Marrakesh, and you're thinking to yourself, panic-stricken, "Maybe I can somehow turn this into a drawing of a boat or an eagle or something."