Artwork Description:
Essaouira (pronounced 'essa-weera', or 'es-Sweera' in Arabic) is Moroccos main fishing port located on the Atlantic coast. In 2014 my wife and I visited Morocco, using Marrakech as our base. During our stay, we rented a car for 3 days and used it to visit the High Atlas Mountains and also Essaouira, where we had a most enjoyable day exploring the old city. The city dates back to pre-historic times and the current fortified port dates back to the 18th Century and contains numerous narrow alleyways and an extensive souk.
When we visited, the harbour had numerous docked fishing boats of varying sizes and a bustling fish market selling a wide variety for seafood from numerous small outdoor market stalls. There was also a boat yard with several boats undergoing repairs. When we arrived a large blue fishing boat was being hauled out of the water. Once it was secured on the ramp, a team of workers dressing in waterproofs swarmed around the boat scraping barnacles and dirt off the hull. It looked like hot and dirty work. I immediately knew that I wanted to paint this scene and took numerous reference photographs that formed the basis of this painting.
I also noticed that my favourite dog, Oscar, had found his way in the boat yard and was intently watching the activity.