VIRGINIA ODALISQUE
Virginia is feeling better 9 July 2015—–After years in Turkey, our old friend Virginia Lowe was so ill that she moved back to the States. She died two months after I drew this farewell picture. Sigh.
CHUCK & DAN AT CHRISTCHURCH
Dan & Chuck – Christchurch – Beyoglu – Istanbul – We’ll miss you! – 2016—–Our very popular American Consul-General Chuck Hunter and his husband Ramadan where they met, at Christchurch in Beyoglu. They were on their way to the next post in Washington DC, after three years here. We miss them!
CABINET ANGELS
Cabinet in the Turkish Orthodox Christian Church – Karakoy—–This church has tombstones going back centuries, and a seafaring flavor. Their vestibule is crowded with antiques: icons, candelabra, ship models, clocks, reliquaries and this Germanic cabinet, replete with carved wooden angels.
DOUBLEDEE IN 2015
Dan DiPaola—–Great Wizard of all things Macintosh. The Fabulous DiPaolas live in a redwood grove in Marin County, California. I was lucky enough to stay with them on my one trip “home” in all these years, slept between two redwood trees growing up through their house.
RACHEL DI PAOLA
You just never know who your best friends are gonna turn out to be—– We all met in ’80s Hollywood, in the frenzy of the computer revolution. When I stayed at their house in 2015 it was a regular Gathering of the Techno-tribes.
DAN’S PET
Dan’s pet in Marin County – New Year’s 2015-2016—–When their kids were growing up, the DiPaola’s had a tank full of live octopusi. One look and you can’t eat kalamari again. And now this little Lizard King…
EDD HOGAN
Edd in Costa Mesa—–A friend of almost five decades, drove all the way the hell down the 405 to see me at my sister’s in Orange County. A prince of a guy, and what an artist!
GHOST FRESCO AYASOFYA
I had already drawn the Seraph twice but had never spent enough time on the frescoes next to it, which barely show through the yellow plaster slathered on by the Fossati Brothers in 1841, during Sultan Abdulmecid’s renovation. When Hagia Sophia was a church, this area over the altar was completely covered in frescoes, probably painted post-Iconoclast, in the 9th century.
IAN ROCKING OUT
Ian rocks out at Christchurch with Tommy Cat—–Christchurch in Beyoglu on a hot summer day, and orange Tommy Cat delighting us all by winding his way along the bottom of the pulpit. Each column is marble from near one of the Seven Churches of St Paul, in Antalya. Our black Christ is Ethiopian. Canon Ian Sherwood is Irish, and sings the Anglican service in a fine baritone. Tommy Cat, now in Kitty Heaven, lived a fine life in the Parsonage garden outside the church, which was built in the 1850s. It’s the only one I’ve ever been in where the rood screen was painted by someone who’s still alive.
