We're back from our trip in Turkey and Spain. It was an incredible trip and Turkey was beautiful and brimming with history. Spain was nice too.
These are probably the best two pictures I drew. I didn't paint as much as I would have liked. We rushed about seeing all sorts of incredible things.
The first one is the Hagia Sophia. I've always wanted to go there. My Dad asked me why...and how I even knew about it when I was younger. I think I first heard of the Hagia Sophia from playing Sim City 3000. I think there was a cheat code so you could build famous monuments in your city.Anyway, it was awe inspiring. They are doing restoration work inside and you can see both the Islamic decoration and the original Byzantine mosaics of Christ etc. It also has green marble columns taken from the famous Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. It used to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but now the temple has one lonely column left, standing in a field, with a huge stork nest perched on top.
This picture is the Blue Mosque. It's exquisite and magnificent, especially when you see it from the Bosphorus. I painted this while sitting in the top floor breakfast room of our hotel. It's called the Blue Mosque because of the Iznik quartz tiles that decorate the interior.
