Ferry Sketches in Istanbul – PoshX Meets DonD

29 April 2023 · 18:40 · PoshX

Istanbul – 29 April 2023, 18:40. Ten days of holiday, no night shifts, one sketchbook. I took the ferry across the Bosphorus four times today just because the light kept changing.

A cat with a pencil behind his ear

On the third crossing a cat sat down next to me and looked at my sketch of the seagulls. "Your wings are too stiff," he said. That was DonD. He paints letters – big, curling ones, inspired by old shop signs and calligraphy he grew up with. He rides the ferry every day between Kadıköy and Karaköy and says it's his studio: "Two continents, twenty minutes, endless sky."

We swapped sketchbooks for the rest of the trip across. His pages were full of letters that look like they are dancing. Mine were full of faces and colour notes. Neither of us said much. We didn't need to.

Shop signs and a wall idea

In the evening DonD showed me his favourite signs in Kadıköy. Faded paint, gold edges, letters older than both of us. He told me about a wall at a youth centre where the owner already said yes – and nobody has painted it yet.

"In Zurich you have a crew," DonD said. "Here I have a ferry. Maybe this week we have both."

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