Artist in Residence

We had a call from one of our booking agencies a couple of days ago. They had a man who needed a place to stay starting that night. We had the large room free and the man came over a couple of hours later. He initially booked for four nights. He is an American (US) who has been livingin Istanbul for the last one and 1/2 years. He is a painter and showed us hisportfolio. He had some excellent pieces and we ohhed and ahhed over his work. Over the course of his four days, he mentioned that the kitchen felt 'set apart' from the rest of the flat due to the change of colors on the wall from the hallway. He continued to say that though it was a common space for guests, it did not feel inviting. His suggestion was to do a large mural on one wall. We liked his idea, but his US rates are $650. a day and the wall would take two and 1/2 days to complete. He offered to do it in exchange for 10 more nights of living. We took him up on the offer. Since he has 10 days, he has been a bit slower to finish than expected, but the basic mural was completed in one and a 1/2 days. The rest of the time, he spent studying it and adding final touches here and there. It is amazing and makes the room look so different. He is putting the absolute finishing touches on it today.

His goal is to trade his work for stays in as many countries in Europe as possible. There is a commission waiting for him in Croatia and he was offered a commission here for a new Turkish towel shop that is opening up in a couple of weeks. Once he is finished and has the time to sit down with me, I will be adding a page to our website of his work and a link to his e-mail. We would like to assist him in fulfilling his goal.

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