Blue Mosque

Topkapi Palace Tile References

Turkish Carpet References

Blue Mosque References

Class Drawings

Standing in front of Blue Mosque, I suddenly realize how many places I have yet to see, how many things I have yet to do. I've only just begun my journey...

I would like to use today's post as an opportunity to introduce my readers to a bit of my creative process. So far on Travel Write Draw I've only displayed my finished works. For me, however, the most exhilarating part of the creative process are all the steps leading up to completion. Generating ideas, pulling from my own travel experiences, is the real challenge. I have the tendency to use a lot of my own photographic references to make my work organic and true to me. The piece you see above was a homework assignment given to us by Bil Donovan. About a week ago, we were asked to draw several models in box compositions. We weren't told how many figures to include in each box. We also weren't told what we would do with them once they were drawn.

As it turns out, we were asked to compose them together in a photoshop file, incorporate a background environment, and pop the piece with no more than three neon colors. While drawing my model friend Tomo's headpiece, all I could think about was placing her in Istanbul. I visited Istanbul and other parts of Turkey in May 2009. Thus I had the perfect background, textile, and mosaic references to make this piece work. I drew directly from my photos of Blue Mosque and incorporated the prevalent blue and red color combination you see in several Turkish textiles and mosaics. A process that began deliberately with no direction ended in a piece that was true to me and to the beautiful city I visited. I hope this entry offers a little insight into the method behind my madness. Enjoy!!