38th Worldwide Sketchcrawl: Istanbul

The 38th Worldwide Sketchcrawl had place this last Saturday — which led me and Samantha to the lively fish market of Kumkapı. After two laps around the market trying to find the most appealing stand (with a stop to dispatch a balık ekmek while some showers persisted), evaluating where to stand sketching for a while without disrupting the flow of trade, appreciating the diversity being offered for sale, we finally settled for one stand that had an interesting variety of large fish hanging, and where we could stay as unobtrusively as possible.

Kedi balığı (Scyliorhinus canicula) Sand Lahoz (Epinephelus aeneus)

For roughly two hours we sketched among fishmonger cries, splashes of water, peeks of curiosity (at one time I spotted Samantha surrounded by five curious fishmongers, discussing among themselves who we were and what were we doing there). One old man came to me and I lowered the sketchbook so he could see. He looked, nodded and without saying a word did that fine gesture of appreciation with his hand (fingers joined pointing upwards, up and down, up and down). The blue of the sky turned to gold and that too faded to darkness, and our tired legs and eyes were by now quite ready to leave. Showing the sketches to the fishmongers and thanking once again, we left in search of a hot çay somewhere nearby.