#152 "More of Dar Louisa", watercolor and ink

Sketching in Morocco. It's beginning to seem like a dream, but what a dream! This sitting room was just outside Dar Louisa's private hammam (steam bath bathing room). On this day Abdelilah and Fatima spent the day feeding the fire underneath the room adjacent to this one. The hammam was heating up and building up steam that came from basins of water that were set in the floor. Fatima bathed the 4 of us women 2 at a time. She lathered us with special soaps and muds and oils and scrubbing mitts, alternating with rinses of bowls of warm water splashed over our bodies. The room was dim and steam filled and everything was dreamy and soft and delicious and very, very pleasurable. We emerged all pink and shiny with brand new skin all over. Looking at this sketch puts me back in that room with Barb and Fatima and the memory of the unexpected pleasure of being bathed by another person. We were told that most Moroccans are bathed this way once a week either in the public hammams or private ones like this one. The fabrics on this sofa and pillows were either woven by the girls at the local orphanage, or are old African fabrics. The red painting on the right was done by Abelilah of his sister. The Ray for the Day is "More of Dar Louisa".