My inspiration for this painting related to memories of Istanbul. I was overwhelmed by the city’s mystic, history and culture. Visiting the mosques; wandering through narrow, streets; being surrounded by the shoe polishers and attentive soft drink vendors; smelling the perfumes mixed with the unfortunate air pollution; inspecting exotic foods of the Orient and soaking up an atmosphere only the Turks could create. Sounds of donkey hoofs on cobbled pavements, calls to prayer, beeping horns of passing cars and people speaking in foreign tongues completed the mystery. I visited the bazaars, and one of the highlights was watching a display of delicately knotted and beautifully coloured Turkish carpets and rugs.
Those were the colours I had in mind… at the same time I wanted to capture the atmosphere of the ancient city in all its riches and elegance.
STEP ONE
I started off with a rough sketch of the Blue Mosque and its surroundings, using
