The Marrakesh Express is leaving once again this May for a fabulous painting adventure to Peacock Pavilions in exotic Morocco. This will be the third trip to this intoxicating country where we will enjoy the warm hospitality of our lovely hostess Maryam of My Marrakesh as we paint, dine, tour, shop and partake of the many incredible sights, sounds, tastes and treats that this city has to offer.

This will be the first trip where we have the opportunity to stay at the soon-to-open Peacock Pavilions during our painting days,

as well as the ever-enchanting Hotel du Tresor, which is located in the heart of the Medina and its famous souks.

On past trips we have painted dramatic ceilings,

done zellij  patterns on some stairs….

and henna patterns on others-

as well as ourselves!

We’ve done Art Deco murals

and graphic floors.

Our next trip will focus on the decoration of an entertainment and separate bar tent, which will be used for parties, wedding, and other special occasions at Peacock Pavilions. We will also do some smaller projects in the guest houses.

For inspiration, we are turning to classic Moroccan textile embroidery patterns

in classic shades of black and cream

as well a bold and bright colors.

Would you like to join us?? We have a few spots still open….and for the first time, I am offering a savings of $300 dollars off the trip if you pay in full. But you have to hurry! All the details are here.

This coming September 14-15, Modello Designs will be displaying at a booth at the HD Boutique in Miami for the first time. I’m very excited!! Our Modello Decorative Masking Patterns have been used before in hotel projects: The Grand Del Mar near San Diego, Peocock Pavilions in Marrakech, and the Lesic Dimitri Palace in Croatia. But that is just scratching the surface! My brain spins with the possibilities of our patterns dressing up surfaces in hotels and resorts all over the world…SO, this booth is my chance to introduce THAT world to MY world.

Our space is small (10′ x 10′), and I have a lot of possibilities I want to show, so my initial thought was to use a restrained hand and stick to a neutral color palette-to keep it very chic and elegant and “designer-ish”, based VERY loosely around a theme of a contemporary Moroccan-style tent. I started off well enough, sticking to a nice cream and warm beige for the Moroccan tile floor done in Skimstone to mimic inlaid travertine tile…..

…with tabletops done with Aurastone (thanks to David Rairick!) to look like inlaid marble.

I decided to use large-scale geometric patterns for the inside “walls” of the tent…

…introducing little pops of color here and there.

Little pops of color led to bigger pops of color for the outer walls…

…which led to even BIGGER pops of color for the “embroidered silk” panels that will hang in between…

over which specially designed patterned and distressed mirrors will hang…

…and did I mentioned that the inside of the tent ceiling will feature twinkling little mirror shapes cut from acrylic mirror? So much for using a restrained hand!!! See how and IF this all comes together next week……….;-)

for more photos on this “process”, please visit our Facebook Fan Page!