GULHANE WALL
Rain falling soft & steady on my third sitting drawing the Topkapi [Palace Complex] Wall. From Amiso Hotel’s dining room – How much weather & pollution have painted this black streaky masterpiece?——It’s Restoration Pink again and most of the trees are topped. It was cleaned before, blackened again, and the trees grew again… As I drew this I longed to stay in the neighborhood, but I was being talked out of it. Nobody will take you seriously if you live in Sultahmet, they said. Mistake!
POSH TRIBAL STORE
Can Antik – Ibrahim – Halil—– in the Grand Bazaar. Father and son, with gorgeous tribal accoutrements and jewelry. Naively I was hoping for an art trade, jewelry for portrait. Mike laughed. “All they want is money, “ he said. True!
AN ACCOUNTANT FROM KYRGYSTAN
…wearing a rose-patterned velvet dress, which I blended with a close-up of one of my embroidered Koran covers. This lady looks Native American to me; she could be Lakota Sioux.
DERVISH EMBRACE
This looks like it was drawn at the Dervish Monastery in Tunel.
YEDITEPE STAIRCASE
Bedrittan Dalan’s mighty spiral in glass, throne & dignitas——by special request, just before he fired me. He was very proud of this staircase, meant to echo the crystal and marble masterpiece at Dolmabahçe Palace.
RUBY LIPS STUDENT
Another kid in college, God love ‘em all.
-Lots of Arabic writing——a small take on Ataturk as a young decorated soldier, which a friend wrote on in Arabic. I have no idea what this says –
ART STUDENT
These kids are all the same age as the waiters at Kybele, but they get to go to school. This one was very pleasant.
UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT HEAD
My new boss. I thought I’d start a computer lab, but ran into university politics. So this jocular department head hired me as an art teacher to start in the fall.
MY ASSISTANT
My assistant for my 15 minutes at the university——A very nice fellow, working on a degree in music. I wonder what became of him.