Oh, the oranges and blues of Ortaköy today!
Showing posts with label Ortaköy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ortaköy. Show all posts
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
not a cloud in the sky
On a glorious day like today, all I wanted to do was stroll along the Bosphorus with some dondurma, Turkish ice-cream. Besides being absolutely divinely delicious, dondurma has a chewy and tougher texture than ice-cream. It's lower in lactose too, and I find that the fruit flavours really taste like fresh fruit. There's this teeny-tiny dondurma stand in Bebek called "Mini Dondurma" that I used to go to when I was eight. It is actually still there, so I had to get in line.
Çikolata ve böğürtlen, lütfen! That's: "chocolate and blackberry, please!" I'm a sucker for dark berries. Beautiful days like today bring the whole city outdoors, and Istanbul is full of parks and promenades for people to enjoy the weather in.
With a beautiful body of water like the Bosphorus so accessible, fishing is naturally a favourite pastime for many. Keeping everyone's bellies from feeling hunger, vendors of all kinds of tasty treats— salted corn on the cob, simit (a sesame-covered ring of bread), sandwiches, popcorn, cream-filled wafers, stuffed mussels— patrol the walkway.
I ended up walking to Ortaköy, which isn't too far a walk from Bebek— I want to say about 20 minutes walking casually, but I wasn't timing it. Ortaköy was abuzz with people having tea, smoking waterpipes, walking hand in hand with their loved one and browsing the many tables of an outdoor market.
No trip to Istanbul is complete without a trip to the tiny streets of Ortaköy, and no trip to Ortaköy is complete without a kumpir— a stuffed baked potato from one of the many kumpir stands. I couldn't resist, and was also curious to find out what the Amerikan salatası topping was. It turns out that Amerikan salatası, "American salad" is potato salad— you might think potato salad on a baked potato is a bit redundant, but I assure you it is not. The more the merrier. Forgive the blurry photograph below of my feast, I snapped it quickly before diving in. What you are seeing there is some cheese, kısır, potato salad, black olives, hot sauce and slices of hotdogs. I can't get enough of these.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
the ones that didn't make it
The weekend has looked much like the photo above— cold grey skies with precipitation alternating between snow and rain. And mud, lots of mud. I have taken the opportunity to stay in and work on some artwork, read and eat cupcakes. Since I haven't anything exciting to share at the moment, I thought I'd post a few photographs I've taken that didn't make it into the previous entries. I hope you enjoy them.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
wild parrots and potatoes
Yesterday I went to draw my favourite mosque in Istanbul, the Ortaköy Camii. It's a small elegant building on the Ortaköy pier, right on the Bosporus. I've loved it since I was a child, it has always seemed so intimate in comparison to some of the other older mosques, that feel so grand.
My goal for the day was to knock out a few drawings of the camii, Turkish for mosque, so I hopped on the bus and made my way down the Bosporus toward Ortaköy. It was another gorgeous spring-like day until we turned around one of the many bends in the road. The sky over Ortaköy was dark grey and suddenly, the bus was hit with rain. I had resigned myself to the idea of sketching in a café, but once I hopped off the bus, the rain stopped!
It seems so far that Turks are not big coffee-to-go people, they like to sit and enjoy their coffees rather than run about with them in their hands. While I do prefer to sit in a nice cosy café, there's nothing like having a hot latte next to you while you are sketching outdoors. So I ran into the one place that would guarantee I'd get a soy latte to-go, Starbucks. I ordered my drink in Turkish, feeling quite proud of myself, when suddenly the guys behind the counters started grinning and saying all these things I couldn't understand. I kept hearing something about a bean, fasulye, and then one of the guys would laugh. Through many hand gestures, I realised that they found it funny that I would drink "milk" from a bean with my coffee.
Dodging the cars, I ran across the street to the camii, wiped off a bench and sat down to draw. Midway into the sketch, the wind picked up and my fingers started to freeze, which made for a wonky drawing. I decided I'd rather grab a baked potato from the potato vendors nearby than try to stiffly sketch out another drawing. The potatoes are fantastic— a large baked potato is opened up, the insides whipped with a little salt, butter and cheese, then you get to pile in all sorts of toppings. It's perfect for a cold day, and the next time I go to Ortaköy, I won't forget to bring my camera and I'll take a picture.
I'm pretty happy with the looseness of the sketch, as I've been trying to get a little looser with my drawing. The camii has so many beautiful details that is was difficult for me not to break out a pen and try to draw every flute on the columns.
Walking home along the Bosporus with my potato, I saw the Savarona— the yacht of Turkey's founding father, Atatürk. The boat is truly stunning, a picture of 1930's glamour. She's been fully restored, with Atatürk's private quarters preserved as a museum. Apparently she can be chartered for cruises— but with celebrities and dignitaries listed as past passengers, I imagine getting on the boat would be quite difficult for those of us with tiny pockets.
Once I reached the town of Bebek, I saw a flash of brilliant green out of the corner of my eye accompanied by a familiar sound of laughter. I had just discovered that Istanbul has it's own flock of wild parrots— conures to be exact— just like the famous parrots of SF's Telegraph Hill. A few of the little birds were happily conversing up in a nearby tree, to my delight. Hopefully one day I can catch them on film.
* * *
Today I finished my entries in Yoda Navarrete's book for Moly-X 48 Exquisite Corpse, part of the International Moleskine Exchange. This exchange is a little different in that once the book is completed, the pages will be cut into thirds so that the sections can be turned independently— this way you can see the top of one artist's entry on the middle of another artist's entry on the bottom of another's. The Exquisite Corpse idea was first formed by the Surrealists in the twenties to create a fun collaborative work of art. I've included in my entries a portrait of Yoda herself, photographer extraordinaire Ola Bell, and a self portrait.
My goal for the day was to knock out a few drawings of the camii, Turkish for mosque, so I hopped on the bus and made my way down the Bosporus toward Ortaköy. It was another gorgeous spring-like day until we turned around one of the many bends in the road. The sky over Ortaköy was dark grey and suddenly, the bus was hit with rain. I had resigned myself to the idea of sketching in a café, but once I hopped off the bus, the rain stopped!
It seems so far that Turks are not big coffee-to-go people, they like to sit and enjoy their coffees rather than run about with them in their hands. While I do prefer to sit in a nice cosy café, there's nothing like having a hot latte next to you while you are sketching outdoors. So I ran into the one place that would guarantee I'd get a soy latte to-go, Starbucks. I ordered my drink in Turkish, feeling quite proud of myself, when suddenly the guys behind the counters started grinning and saying all these things I couldn't understand. I kept hearing something about a bean, fasulye, and then one of the guys would laugh. Through many hand gestures, I realised that they found it funny that I would drink "milk" from a bean with my coffee.
Dodging the cars, I ran across the street to the camii, wiped off a bench and sat down to draw. Midway into the sketch, the wind picked up and my fingers started to freeze, which made for a wonky drawing. I decided I'd rather grab a baked potato from the potato vendors nearby than try to stiffly sketch out another drawing. The potatoes are fantastic— a large baked potato is opened up, the insides whipped with a little salt, butter and cheese, then you get to pile in all sorts of toppings. It's perfect for a cold day, and the next time I go to Ortaköy, I won't forget to bring my camera and I'll take a picture.
I'm pretty happy with the looseness of the sketch, as I've been trying to get a little looser with my drawing. The camii has so many beautiful details that is was difficult for me not to break out a pen and try to draw every flute on the columns.
Walking home along the Bosporus with my potato, I saw the Savarona— the yacht of Turkey's founding father, Atatürk. The boat is truly stunning, a picture of 1930's glamour. She's been fully restored, with Atatürk's private quarters preserved as a museum. Apparently she can be chartered for cruises— but with celebrities and dignitaries listed as past passengers, I imagine getting on the boat would be quite difficult for those of us with tiny pockets.
Once I reached the town of Bebek, I saw a flash of brilliant green out of the corner of my eye accompanied by a familiar sound of laughter. I had just discovered that Istanbul has it's own flock of wild parrots— conures to be exact— just like the famous parrots of SF's Telegraph Hill. A few of the little birds were happily conversing up in a nearby tree, to my delight. Hopefully one day I can catch them on film.
Today I finished my entries in Yoda Navarrete's book for Moly-X 48 Exquisite Corpse, part of the International Moleskine Exchange. This exchange is a little different in that once the book is completed, the pages will be cut into thirds so that the sections can be turned independently— this way you can see the top of one artist's entry on the middle of another artist's entry on the bottom of another's. The Exquisite Corpse idea was first formed by the Surrealists in the twenties to create a fun collaborative work of art. I've included in my entries a portrait of Yoda herself, photographer extraordinaire Ola Bell, and a self portrait.
Friday, January 16, 2009
new shoes, an early gift and an experiment.
Isn't it marvellous when something you've had your eye on is suddenly 60% off? I've been dreaming of these strappy gray babies since before the holidays. Today I'm wearing the 10 lira/6 dollar shirt-dress I found at the Levent market in December, my souvenir-scarf from Lebanon and the belt I got for Christmas from my mom. I ended up switching shoes before running out the door since I was planning on going to Ortaköy, a fun part of town with narrow cobblestone alleys that while charming, can eat up your heels. It was a quick trip— tea in a cosy café, a game of checkers and peeking in boutiques. As an early birthday gift, my sister bought me a gorgeous handmade necklace of antique beads crocheted onto the trim of old scarves. I fell for it instantly, it so reminded me of spring. I still can't quite believe I'll be 30 in the next two weeks. I'm excited—
I plan on having much more fun in my thirties.
On Tuesday I went to a café in Yeniköy called the Yeniköy Spor Kulübü, where people often get together to play Mah-jong, Okey and cards in addition to having lunch. I decided to try sketching with gouache in an attempt to loosen up my drawing style. I think I'll keep trying to see what happens.
Please click on the image to see it larger.
It is imperative that any Sketcher have within reach a delicious Turkish coffee, or kahve. A Turkish coffee is thick, silty and strong, served in a dainty little cup. I like it best orta, medium-sweet— your other options are şekersiz, sugarless and şekerli, sweet. There's a tradition of flipping the emptied cup upside down onto its saucer and reading the future in the sediment left behind. I've seen a jungle full of animals and patterns in mine, but I haven't the foggiest what it all means!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
