Holiday Drawing – Cactus Tree

Original drawing, ink pen on paper, A4, 2025

An original ink drawing based on a photograph I took during a trip to Turkey in autumn 2025.

I always take drawing and painting materials with me when I travel, imagining all the things I might make along the way — but somehow I rarely actually find the time to draw on holiday. Instead, I take lots of photographs, collecting little moments and places that I know I’d like to return to later in the studio.

This drawing is based on one of those photographs: the garden of a local farming couple we came across while hiking in a remote mountainous area of Turkey. They live quite isolated from the surrounding villages and welcome hikers passing by, offering tea and selling small local souvenirs.

I was particularly drawn to the character of their garden — the informal arrangement of plants, the feeling of a lived-in landscape and the contrast between this small, welcoming home and the vast mountainous surroundings.

Back home, I translated the photograph into detailed ink, using line and texture to recreate the atmosphere and details of the place.

Comes without a frame; will be shipped in a postal tube or a cardboard envelope.