Red Tulips in a glass,
Watercolour, 10″x 8″

TULIPS

In Turkish history, the period between 1718-1730, a time of peace and prosperity during the reign of Ahmed III, is called the “Tulip Era” and Tulips or Lale in Turkish, became an important symbol in Turkish life thereafter. Many embroidered and handmade textiles, ceramics and artwork featured tulip designs and shapes and Tulip gardens were popular around the Golden Horn. In fact many cultivated varieties were widely grown here long before they were introduced to European gardens. This Era ended with the Patrona Halil revolt in 1730 when the Sultan was dethroned. As I painted this, thousands of tulips were being hand planted by large crews of village workers in the parks and gardens, along the promenade and in central reservations and traffic islands right across  Fethiye.

Poppy, Watercolour,
10″ x 8″

POPPIES

In 3,400 B.C. when the opium poppy was cultivated in lower Mesopotamia it was known as Hul Gil, the “joy plant.”  And what a lot of joy we manage to get from this flower!   Painkillers like morphine and codeine,  ornamental flowers for the garden and food like bagels for example, it’s even planted for soil erosion control,. Sadly, in it’s more dangerous guise as Heroin, it’s responsible for many wars and atrocities, most famously in the Opium wars of the mid 1800’s and today in Afghanistan and the Far East. Round here though, the sight of meadows full of pink poppies is one of the true joys of summer.

Zara
Acrylic on card,

Zara is our 3 year old German Shepherd.  She was already 6 months old when we got her from the local animal shelter and she came with a lot of baggage.  We love her to bits but like many large, intelligent dogs who are mistreated and abandoned she is a handful and we’ve had our fair share of adventures…..and Xmas eve was no exception.

When I took her a treat at 9 pm, she was behaving strangely, nothing I could put my finger on, just odd, lethargic somehow.  She’d been playing all day with our latest rescue, an abandoned Viszla puppy and we assumed she was just knackered.  When Gina went out at 11, she happened to stroke her under the chest and her hand came away covered in blood!

Our first thought was that she’d been shot!

When we turned her over there was a 4″ triangle of skin hangıng loosely down from her chest with a finger sized hole at the apex. Our normal vet refused to call out so with the help of our neighbour, Bob, we got her to the marvellous Suçkun at Ankavet before midnight. After the operation we got back home around 2.30 on Xmas morning.  Zara’s making a good recovery and currently crashing round the garden with a cone around her head,

After some detective work we discovered she had somehow managed to impale herself on the garden railings!

I painted this one in an attempt to capture something of her tremendous spirit.