Drawing On Istanbul

• DOORS OF BYZANTIUM: Drawing the Boukoleon Palace Portals 2 years ago A drawing lesson in nine chapters. Drafting pens on white rag paper, 35 X 70 cm. The 9thCentury Boukoleon Palace, I’m happy to say, is presently in good hands, being properly excavated and fortified. When I drew and wrote the posts below, it seemed it might just rot away. So I was documenting...
• ST JOHN'S BASILICA: Drawing in the Wake of the Gospels 2 years ago ST JOHN’S BASILICA The vast rambling ruin of St John’s Basilica: demolished by earthquake, ravaged by marauders, scavenged by later builders; it looks like it has been picked up and dropped.  Huge jagged chunks of sixth-century masonry rear at improbable angles. Columns  march in all...
• TIGERS IN EPHESUS: Drawing in the Aura of the Virgin 2 years ago WHERE WORLDS MERGE Years ago I went to Ephesus with my friend Cynthia from Maui. We were exactly the same age, both born in the Year of the Tiger, 1950. We both love cats. She even has cat eyes! Cynthia’s former husband had run off awhile before, leaving her in the unfinished mortgaged dream...
• THE COVERED FEAST: Drawing in the Grand Bazaar 2 years ago I’ll never forget the first time I saw it. I was with a bunch of other tourists, at a dead run, trying to keep up with Mike. WITH MIKE IN THE GRAND BAZAAR  We charge at breakneck pace through a big arched gate, down a promenade lined with cheap fezzes and fake harem stuff, past… Read More...
• • A DATE WITH AN ANGEL: Worlds Collide in Hagia Sophia 4 years ago NOTE: Since the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, several of the artworks described here are no longer visible, but they’re still there. Behind the curtains and under the carpets, laughing at us. IT’S ALL ALIVE The date of this angel is probably slightly after 1261. That’s when the...

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