how to make the first mark on a page?

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i took paint with me to morocco.  i spent a week in fes, recovering from delivery riding and then took a bus across the atlas mountains. an australian guy in my dorm had told me of an oasis town near the algerian border and so i decided to begin there. i placed my paper and paint on a wall outside the bus station of bouarfa and squeezed out some paint onto a plastic tray i had bought in the market in fes. i chose to paint on the street to force me to accept whatever mark i made as being mine. out in public without hiding away.  and so i wandered and painted. with no idea what i was doing but slowly letting an idea lead me from painting to painting. i think that was a very good choice in how to begin and force past the intimidation of the first mark

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