bye bye 2009!

These are all the sketchbooks I've filled in 2009— that's 928 pages front and back, full of scribbles and sketches— not including the work I've done in the International Moleskine Exchange! I wonder if I can beat that next year...

I'm not big on resolutions. I, like most people, rarely stick to them, and end up with that December guilt of never having reached the goals I had set for myself twelve months earlier. 2009 has been a year full of change— I moved halfway across the world, discovered a new career path, met all sorts of wonderful people, visited two cities I've always dreamed of seeing— Prague and Budapest— and I bought a fish from a fishmonger in Turkish.

So what do I have planned for 2010? I've decided to tackle this new year's goals in four ways: art, language, travel and sport. Regarding art, I will continue to work on my drawings and paintings, hopefully getting an exhibition and finishing the comic I've been working on. Language— I want to improve my Turkish. If I have time, I'd like to get back my German. In travel, I will spend a month volunteering in Kathmandu this summer, and I hope to make it to Barcelona and Athens or Oslo. Finally, sport: since I have found nowhere to trapeze in Istanbul, I will take up fencing.

As usual, I want to floss more regularly and read more. I'd love to take up the accordion, but with all the painting, travelling and fencing in Turkish I've got planned, I'm not sure if I can realistically fit it in. We'll see. It's a skill I've been longing to collect.

What are your plans for 2010?

the things i saw on november 17, 2009

Click on the image to see it larger.

completion

After a little over a year, and passing through the hands of four artists in six countries, my Moleskine for Moly-X13 has come home. It's a surreal feeling; I remember ripping off the plastic wrapping and looking at the blank paper, wondering what on earth to draw. I was in my little apartment in San Francisco, sitting on my little Ikea sofa with a cup of tea when I picked up a pencil and drew the first lines. I recall the anxiety I felt when I handed over the package containing my book to the woman at the post office, hoping that it would make it safely to Anna Denise in the Netherlands. Now my book is in my hands, in Istanbul, where I did not imagine I nor it would be 15 months later.


Click on this to see it larger.

moleskine detour exhibition

Image from Moleskine Detour.

I'll be the only Moly-Xer at the Moleskine Detour Exhibition Opening tomorrow night— an art-filled show show of 50 artists' Moleskines and 30 Mollies from Istanbul Bilgi University, Domus Academy Milano-Roma and myDetour Berlin, held of course, in my fair city of Istanbul.

Detour is a travelling show of creativity contained within the covers of a Moleskine. I've been told that Istanbul City Moleskines were given to students at Bilgi University to fill with drawings, collages, designs and writings of their personal Istanbul. I can't wait to see all the artwork and I'm thrilled to be going to the opening. I'll be there with one of the talented participants, Aslı Aydın, writer of the übercool blog Trendiary, and Ilgin Yorulmaz, editor of the fabulous (and very useful!) Pukka Living, an online guide to unique and hip Istanbul.

The exhibition is being held at santralistanbul from May 22 through June 21,
open from 10 am to 8pm.

moleskines! moleskines!

Today I got a nice surprise from Marty— Gustav Klim's book for Moly-X29, the Rainbow Exchange. What makes 29 so different is that each artist picks a colour of the rainbow and can only create their piece using variations of that colour. Gustav is Yellow, Emma is Green, Marina is Blue, Marty is Indigo, I am Violet, Jill is Red and Yoda is Orange. It's a fun challenge, being limited to one colour. This book is one of the most spirited ones that has come my way— there's a freeness to the styles each artist has used so far. My work is generally pretty tight, so this is the perfect book for me to loosen up in.

I also finished my entry in my book for Moly-X64, the sequential art exchange. I used a dip pen and brush, Winsor & Newton India ink, white ink and some red gouache. I am encouraging the artists in 64 to continue the story as they imagine it, only using black, white and a spot of red. I think it'll end up quite visually interesting.


Now I've got to deal with the rest!
Please click on the images to see them in greater detail.

galata kulesi and a few sketches

After I dropped off the illustration I had been working on for a client in Kasımpaşa, I decided that since I was near Galata Kulesi, otherwise known as the Galata tower, I'd pop on over to check it out. I've always seen it from a distance but have never actually been there. It's a landmark that is impossible to miss— a huge cylindrical structure with a cone-shaped roof watching over the Golden Horn. Built in 1348, the the tower stands 66.90 metres tall and is 35 metres above sea-level, which made it the highest structure in Constantinople. Its primary purpose during Ottoman times was watching for fires. When I was little, I believed that it was from Galata Kulesi that Icarus attempted to fly free on his wings of wax.

Before venturing into the tower, I stopped in a café at the base for a tea and tost— toast. I love the phonetic spelling in Turkish! Tost is basically what is known to Americans as grilled cheese. You can get tomatoes in your tost or a tasty spicy sausage called sucuk— which is what I got. There is a café in the tower should you wish to dine with a view, but I haven't tried it.

Climbing to the top of Galata Kulesi will give you one of the most astonishing views of the Bosphorus and Golden Horn. On a clear day, you can see the Marmara sea with all its boats waiting for entry into the strait.



On the left side of the picture below, you can see Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofya in Turkish) on the horizon and Sultanahmet, the Blue Mosque, on the right.


Upon exiting, there was a man with a sweets cart that I couldn't resist purchasing a little fried dough from. This is the Turkish version of a churro, which I am crazy for. The amount of churros I ate back in California is either impressive or embarrassing. Syrupy, doughy, delicious and only 50 kuruş— which according to today's exchange rate is 31 cents. You can't beat that. I'm not sure what this is called, but a shorter form is called tulumba.

Click on the images to see them larger.

rain, rain, go away!

yeşilköy market

The Yeşilköy market is enormous— large enough to get a little lost in. It's the same sort of wonderful mayhem as the Levent market, just bigger. There's a lot more stuff to rummage through and the little "cafés" seem less haphazardly put together. I noticed each café has a different tablecloth pattern.




Click on the images to see them larger.

delightful

My sister and I were in the Kapalı Çarşı area early this morning and couldn't resist popping into the bazaar for a look around and some tea. I did a quick sketch then we had to get outside to enjoy the unseasonably warm sunny day. My goal was to walk as far as I could get across the Golden Horn and down the Bosporus road, dragging my poor sister and her tiny feet along!

Along the back roads I was overjoyed to find one of the latest additions to the Moleskine City Notebook series— Istanbul! The indispensable little Moly comes with a valuable transport system map, 30 pages of city maps, a measurement conversion chart, tracing paper, oodles of blank pages to jot down information or sketch on, and of course, the pocket. Is this not perfect? This little baby is going to be by my side every day.


Mısr Çarşısı, Spice Bazaar.

On the way to the Galata Bridge in Eminönü, we decided we'd pick up a small box of lokum at the Mısr Çarşısı— the famed Spice Bazaar. During the Ottoman Empire, the Mısr Çarşısı was the centre of the spice trade. With the majority of the spices being imported from Egypt, the bazaar became known as "The Egyptian Bazaar," or Mısr Çarşısı— Mısr being Egypt. Nothing in the world smells like this place— dried nuts and meats mix with exotic spices, perfumes, honey and lokum.



Now what is lokum? More commonly known as Turkish Delights, these bite-sized cubes of deliciousness come in a wide variety of flavours and colours. Made of starch and sugar, the soft and chewy delights are generally dusted with confectioner's sugar, coconut flakes or ground nuts. I have yet to come across a lokum I didn't like, though my most favourite of all are the delicate rose flavoured ones.





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After being surrounded by all those tasty little treats, we craved pudding. Pudding is an art here in Turkey— I have no clue how many different kinds of puddings there are, but they are all heavenly. There are rice puddings, chocolate puddings, puddings flavoured with orange blossom water and believe it or not, chicken. Tavuk göğsü is a pudding made with chicken breast— we ordered it along with another pudding, but I'm not sure which one it is in the picture above. I tasted both and neither were chickeny. They were smooth, creamy and subtle in flavour and sweetness— I think I need to really delve into the world of Turkish puddings. Become a connoisseur?



I think it is only fitting to end this sugar-filled post with a photo of today's purchases— my Istanbul City Moleskine and an illustration I bought that warns us of the perils of tooth decay. I found this fantastic beauty in the bazaar, it's a replica of an old medical book illustration. I recommend clicking on the image so you can see it a little better. I can't wait to get it framed and on my wall!

a little breakfast

I went back to the Yeniköy Spor Kulübü for a little breakfast and a sketch. I've been wanting to draw this woman for the past three weeks now— I've been told she takes care of the bathrooms in the café and is from Anatolia. She has so much character, and is usually moving about but today she sat down and had a breakfast of bread, butter, cheese and tea. Her hands were so quick, they were difficult to draw.

Once again, a waiter whisked away my Moleskine and when he showed it to her, she let out this little noise of surprise and started smiling. She said all sorts of things to me that I didn't understand— I was told one of the things was "health to your hands." As I was touching up the drawing, I noticed a familiar happy face at a table— it was the gentleman I had drawn last week. We waved to each other and the Moleskine soon made its way over to him, where he thumbed through it, showing his friends the drawing he was in. I love the reactions I have gotten so far from my "models," they make for a fun and rewarding sketching experience.

a day in

I stayed in today to work on various art projects, so I thought I'd post some of the photos I've taken over the past few days that I like. Above is a drawing of a migraine I recently had.

the international moleskine exchange

I've been involved in The International Moleskine Exchange, or Moly-X, for about a year now. Moly-X is a fantastic collaborative project founded by ballpoint master Marty Harris, to connect artists around the world through art. Marty runs the entire operation with the participation of Moly-X members through Flickr— at this point we have 61 exchanges going. Interested artists join the group by visiting the Moly-X Flickr group page, and either join an existing exchange or ask other artists to form a new one. Once an exchange has formed, the group gets a blog and each artist buys their own Moleskine sketchbook. Moleskine is a lovely brand of sketchbooks and journals that has one book in particular that lends itself well to the project— the Japanese folding Moleskine. It is essentially a nine foot long piece of paper folded accordian-style into 60 pages.

After each artist has a book, they have a month to draw, paint or collage a piece of art on the first three or so pages. Then a rotation plan is set up, and the artists swap sketchbooks in the rotation order. The next artist has one month to draw in the book that was sent to them, then they send it off to the next artist and so on. Once the books are filled, they are sent back their original owners, and everyone gets a marvellous nine feet of art that has travelled the globe. I'm currently in seven exchanges with artists in 13 different countries. Moly-X has had an enormous effect on my drawing skill and speed, and I love being exposed to different styles and cultures. I've formed friendships and learned so much. Links to the blogs of the exchanges I am in are listed in the links section, and if you'd like to learn more about Moly-X, please visit us on Flickr.

Here are a few of my entries— click on the images to see them larger: