Feature on a Feature - House Themed Art

While living in Turkey, one of the most wonderful things Yashar and I did together was go to the art workshops at LOLA (lots of lovely art) with Alara.  You might remember that I wrote about LOLA here. Remember her amazing Children's Art Studio?  I don't know who misses it most - Yashar or me!

Recently The Crafty Crow (which is a wonderful resource for art and craft activities to do with kids) featured one of Alara's art activities - a fantastic post on house themed art.  For some reason I have a special place in my heart for creating artworks of architecture and homes -so this one got me inspired for lots of activities to do with Yashar.  Check out the LOLA blog for ridiculous amounts of inspiration.

To get your Istanbul fix...

It's no secret...we are missing Istanbul - we loved living there - it's an amazing city, full of contrasts and with an exciting energy all it's own.   And if you are missing getting your fix of of Istanbul here now that we are in Australia, or if you just love truly beautiful writing and photos, then you need to head over here.   My Philosofia is a blog written by the very talented Innes Welbourne, whom you can read about more here and in the Elle Magazine Turkey profile of him here.   Innes captures the essence of Istanbul beautifully, exploring the hidden nooks and crannies of the city and visiting and photographing all the places and people you wish you had the guts to!

These are just some of my favourite photos taken by Innes that are on my philosofia.

A hidden glimpse through a half open gate.  Yenikoy.  From the post Churches: Glimpses into a different times.

SLANTED SHADOWS AND PLENTY OF LOCAL COLOR ENLIVEN AN ALLEYWAY OUTSIDE A MOSQUE from the post Karakoy: Long shadows, deep colour.

KARAKÖY QUAY, MID-MORNING from the post Volumes of Silence:  Part I

RUGS FROM ALL OVER ANATOLIA AWAITING A NEW LIFE from the post Dhoku:  Rugs Reborn

NEW CAFES AND SHOPS ARE APPEARING IN FORMERLY RUN DOWN BUILDINGS from the post  Karakoy: Long shadows, deep colour.

Commuters on the way to Eminonu from the post Vapur 1: Timeless travel

ESCAPING THE MIDDAY CRUSH. FROM THE BOSPHORUS TO THE SEA OF MARMARA from the post Volumes of Silence: Part II

PIANO PLAYER AND SINGER STEAL PHOTOGRAPHER’S HAT, LOSE THEMSELVES IN
THE MOMENT from the post Sefahathane: Thickening the Beyoglu Atmosphere

Inside one of Mimar Sinan's mosques from the post 24 Hours on the Golden Horn

I was lucky enough to become good friends with Innes and his wonderful wife Sevim and his gorgeous daughter, that the blog was named for - Sofia.  I did this illustration for Innes a while back - inspired by Alchemy - which Innes writes about here - and especially Thoth and Hermes Trismegistus.  It was definitely a departure from my usual illustrations - something  I really enjoyed getting in to.

     

Recent Work: Tirtil Kids Bookshop - Istanbul

I am continuing to work with Tirtil Kids Book Shop in Istanbul and am loving it!  The work often needs to be done quickly and I try to make it eye catching and fun...  These are a few I have done recently - above is a detail from a birthday related one, ...and you can see some of the past illustrations here.

One of the exciting things that the book shop is doing at the moment is having different comedians and actors in to do readings each month..so fun I think!  This is the most recent one - the reading is on this Thursday:

And this was the one for last month:

LOLA Children's Art Studio

Iyi Bayramlar everybody!   I hope you all are having a wonderful break with family and friends.

Here are a few photos I took recently for Alara - whose beautiful children's art studio (LOLA) Yashar and I love so much!!  Also check out her blog for lots of great ideas for creating with kids.

Recent Work

Recently I have been doing some illustrations for Tirtil Kids - a wonderful children's book shop here in Istanbul that stocks books in English, Turkish, French and German.  The two below are little details from a couple of the illustrations.

And here are two more - one for 'Summer Skill Sharpeners' and the second 'Going on Holiday'.  The illustrations are for their fortnightly emails that you can sign up for in store.  I'm so happy to be working with them  :)

Also, check out this great post over at the Lots of Lovely Art blog full of excellent ideas on what to do with all your child's art work. Very needed in our house!

Have a great weekend!

Images of... New Hamamist Photos and Our Village Visit

These are some photos I took a couple of weeks ago (time flies!) for Hamamist.  I took them at my lovely friend Alara's apartment  -who, by the way, is ridiculously stylish in a totally natural way - I basically just want to move right in to her apartment  ;)   I was totally overwhelmed with all the beautiful things that I might put in the photos - check out the beautiful glass bottles below with shell tops - she made them!  I will definitely have to have another photos session there!

And these are some more photos of from the trip to my husband, Shenol's, family village near the black sea coast.  I wasn't at all restrained with these - so quite a lot of photos coming up  :)

The house we stayed at was where Shenol's grandmother lived - it was the one next to this and looks pretty similar (somehow I missed taking a photo of it!)  The two houses are surrounded by forest.  Below is the swing by the front door of the house - Yashar loved it!!  It was so green, cool and lush there.

This is the lovely cool stream that you need to cross to get to the houses

Cherry picking!

We went to a neighbouring farm for some cherry picking - this tough and independent woman was working the farm as we arrived.  She told us about the loaded gun she carries and how she takes it to wedding to shoot into the air in celebration - yikes!

Below is the yard at the house where Shenol's farther grew up, and below that is the forest next to the house.


Thanks for joining me on this little 'slideshow'!

Last week we headed off in the early hours of the morning to drive to Senol's family village in Erfelek - near Sinop on the black sea coast. I had been before - about 7 years ago - but I was still totally amazed by how beautiful it was.  Surrounded by forest, houses that are truely 'handmade', bucket fulls of cherries and vegetables straight from the plant to the table.   I'm just stopping in tonight with one of my favourite photos from the trip - this huuuge linden tree (called ihlamur here in Turkey). You can see by the ladder leaning against it that some one had already beat us to picking the blossom and leaves used to make ihlamur tea (a wonderful tea to have when you have a cold!)

I'll be back with some more photos of the trip (and loads of other things) soon. See you then!

Special Announcement!

So, you may (or may not!) have been wondering what I have been so busy with that has been keeping me away from blogging as much and keeping up with all my usual things.  Well here is the big reveal!

I have been working with my husband and two friends of mine here and created Hamamist!!  (You can read all about what it is below)  We are so excited about it!   So I have been busy - designing towels, taking photos, making booklets, designing packaging etc etc!  And I have been making the website...I'm no expert at making websites so it has been taking a while (!)...and will take more time as I do things like change the front page and add more information about Pestemals and more images.  But it has launched!  So please go over and have a look!  Let me know what you think!

So far, it has been going better than I could even have imagined...and I would definitely appreciate your support so much in making it a success!  Please tell your friends if you have the chance!  :)

Maybe you have already heard of Hamam Towels?  Here they are called Peshtemals and are flat woven towels that we use all the time - in the bathroom, at the pool, at the beach - we love them!

This is a little that I wrote for our 'About' section on the website:

Hamamist is all about creating beautiful towels of the highest quality, using natural fibres and hand looming. An everyday luxury.

Why are these towels so special?

Hamam Towels (peshtemal in Turkish) are flat woven towels that:
*are light weight, compact and fast drying

*absorb water as quickly as standard towels

*are natural and eco friendly as they take up less space in your washing machine

*easily fit in your beach bag or travel bag

*look great worn ‘sarong style’ poolside

*are perfect for using at the spa or gym

*make a unique and beautiful gift

Hamamist peshtemals are hand loomed in the same villages that they have been made in for centuries. This means that every item is slightly different and unique.

A bit of History...

The peshtemal was,and still is, the traditional attire worn at the Hamam or Turkish Bath. The history of hamams and peshtemals is a rich one. Hamams were influenced by the Roman ‘thermae’ and Byzantine baths and reached their peak during the reign of the Ottoman Empire.

The ritual at the hamam involves bathers relaxing in a very warm room before splashing themselves with cool water. After performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation.

Today peshtemals are widely used on the Mediterranean beaches of Turkey and also poolside, in bathrooms and at spas.

It feels so good to finally have launched the website and to be sharing it with you!  I hope you like it!

Things have been quiet on the blog here but busy behind the scenes!  I had my sister Emily visit for a few days - after not seeing her for 2 and a half years!  It was fantastic but too quick of course.  One of the afternoons we headed in to Tahtakale - a crowded wholesale area here in Istanbul and we were not disappointed! 

The photo above is one my sister took on her iphone - I love it.  These are the funny icecream sellers - you've been warned!  If you come on a trip to Istanbul expect them to play a few little tricks on you when you go to buy an icecream!   My husband likes to quietly tell them to really play it up for some of our guests - it's hilarious!    Tomorrow I'm off to London to meet up with my sister there - so I will hopefully be dropping in with a few photos while I'm there. 

Have a great weekend!

an istanbul door and an istanbul notebook

This is a quick shot I took in Galata last week before my camera batteries ran out.  darn it.  The detailing on this door was gorgeous -you probably know by now what a sucker I am for a nice door!

I've been busy working on a few different projects and also a couple of new notebook designs.  This is a simple one that is almost finished - just needs the threads tied at the ends and then to be packaged up.  The weather apparently didn't get the memo about Spring starting -so still very grey for photo taking :(

And this is another design - which I have already taken down to Molka - I'll have to remember to take some photos of the actual notebook soon!

Yashar and I didn't have a 'Making Monday' for you this week...but have been doing plenty of making at our super cool weekly art classes at LOLA.    And I did receive an ingenious card from Yashar (with help from his Dad) for my birthday that involved a car with a window that opened to show a picture of Yashar and I - very cute!

So, to make up for it, tomorrow I'll be back with some making inspiration with a crafty gathering of some of best things to make from around the net.  See you then!