Over the first few days I organized my beautiful apartment,¹ met some co-workers, and even introduced myself (awkwardly) to a couple of neighbors. I went on an unsuccessful quest for basil, oregano, rosemary, and aloe vera plants. I had my first tagine.² I explored the oldest parts of the city, enjoyed a sunset on the beach with my toes in the sand, and visited an ancient Phoenician burial site.³ I sat by a lighthouse at night, sipping mint tea and enjoying the sea breeze. I charmed some street cats.⁴ I ate a cactus.

My first weekend, I explored a famous cave,⁵ collected shells on the beach, and wandered the medina at night. I swam laps in the ocean⁶, climbed a cliff, and helped my friends break into their car (using only a piece of wire and patience) after they locked the keys in the trunk. Taught a friend to play gin rummy and was trounced three times in row. Ate two traditional Moroccan cookies from a bakery filled with happy bees. Sat in my bedroom at night with just the lamp on and the window open, listening to the sounds of the city outside. One dog barking, a couple of sirens, the muffled clinking of silverware on plates as someone ate a late dinner. The sound of the breeze and crickets on the hill.

1. Even the building is great, with a giant atrium-like hallway filled with plants that all the neighbors look after.
2. Lentil, served with cumin, paprika, and fresh bread.
3. Really cool. It was a rock-covered hillside and there were these big rectangular holes that had been hewn out of the rock. Apparently the bodies were buried in lead coffins in these holes, but the coffins have long since been stolen or given to museums, so all that’s left is the rock face.
4. The cats here, by the way, are not strays. They just wander the city and everyone in the community looks after them.
5. Hercules Cave, or Grottes d’Hercule. See photos.
6. At my new favorite beach.

front page

project page

typography

lightboxed images

gallery

]]> http://serenae.com/2010/08/11/portfolio-redesign/feed/ 0 http://serenae.com/2009/09/29/new-paintings/ http://serenae.com/2009/09/29/new-paintings/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:24:30 +0000 Serena http://serenae.com/?p=959 As well as setting a really dangerous precedent of two blog posts in one week, I’m also getting into the bad habit of posting a lot of images and very little text. I’ll try to get better about that, though I secretly believe that people are, in general, too lazy to read lot of text anyway.¹

As promised, here are my four most recent paintings. They’re actually finished, which is more than I can usually say! We’ll see about continuing this trend.

Everyone should have blue skin.

spring

summer

fall

Voila! I’m going to save up for a couple of canvases² so next time I don’t have to paint on paper.

1. Have I lost you yet?
2. Did you know: en française, ‘canvas’ is ‘toile’. Not to be confused with etoile or toilette.

Also, there’s a really cool guy in Toronto who does fabulous YouTube accordion tutorials, as well as entertaining street performances. He might be my new hero. Highly recommended.

1. Mostly challenges, in fact.
2. Although I think some of the reeds may need re-waxing.

(You might want to pause and wait for it to load. HD is cranky like that.)