WOMAN WITH A SHINER
-Woman with a shiner in the restaurant – Determinedly dressed up—– She was defiant. I hope she got him back and got out and got even. The double-headed snake woman is an image from an old Kurdish fairy tale.
UP & DOWN ON THE FERRY
OH, GRANDMA!
CHECKING IT OUT
Women in Turkey are quite polarized on the scarf issue.
LITTLE GIRLS
-Easter Sunday – Cold and grey – But this drawing saved my dismal day – Nurcan – Melek -Meral – Melisa – All of them angels! The little girls from my neighborhood (Kücük Ayasofya) I’ve watched growing up. Aren’t they beautiful?- Easter Sunday 23 March 2008—–The thing was, I couldn’t find the Crimean Memorial Church. All dressed up for Easter in my painted velvet coat, I’d set out across the Galata Bridge and tried to find the church from below. I trudged up and down the steep streets for hours and finally gave up, crying in frustration and disappointment. Walked home and went to the market, saw Ali at his fruit stand, and around the corner these little girls, who had played in my apartment Saturdays when I lived in the neighborhood. I just started drawing. I’m so glad I did.
NEA EKKLESIA SUBSUMING
-It was the Nea Ecclesiastica Church with 5 gilded domes, spared by the great Mehmet Paşa for respect of its beauty. His son used it as an ammunition dump. As so often it was blown up sometime in the 17th century. (He poisoned his father too.) – I sat drawing in a doorway of the remains, which have been pressed into service as dwellings. Someone had plastered the walls & painted it blue, the place was wrecked & burned & full of rubbish, but the filthy ceiling is still coffered and the broken edge of marble floor beyond the doorsill is 5 inches thick. Gececondos grew like mushrooms since Sultan Abdulhamid ran the railroad through here in 1871. I drew this from Gypsytown across the tracks. The splendid doorway is center. As I drew the owner of the pigeon coop climbed up to bring me Turkish coffee.
An old lady last lived here, they told me. This might have been her kitchen. The family occupying the ruins is most curious about them, and very proud to live there. The father did indeed bring me coffee and took these pictures. Until very recently, the enormous foundation of the church survived nearby, but it has been razed for another hotel. At this writing, this chunk is still here, but difficult to access. Here I am drawing it.
NEA ECCLESIASTICA WITH PIGEONS
-Doorway of a thousand-year-old church, now a pigeon coop – Sitting here in the flapping and cooing cold like the cat amongst the pigeons – Sultanahmet 8-9
CITY OF SHIPS (FAST TAKE)
At night, you’d swear there was an island city out there. All were waiting to go up the Bosporus to the Black Sea.
THE BARBER
Halit Necdet’s Barbershop in Büyük Han – Fatih – 2008—–This tiny courtyard leads from the street into the huge Büyük Valide Han, full of mens’ clothing shops where Halit Bey’s customers worked. He was happy to pose, and has since retired.
OLD CORNER IN THE BAZAAR
The Grand Bazaar is an architectural testimony to its nomadic Ottoman builders: everything was created as needed over centuries of trade. This busy intersection is just past the large Bedesten at the main gate. The Bazaar’s famous paint job, with white, yellow and red tulips on a dark background, was done by art students in the early 1980s. Having drawn it many times, I think they all must have gone mad. The paint here is peeled from water damage. In early days there was likely no glass in those windows, and the Bazaar pre-dates plumbing and electricity by several centuries, so all of that shows. I’ve been in here during power shortages, and there’s always enough light from the windows to see your way to the next store.