Notebook | Ilayda Mercankaya

Welcome to my open studio. This notebook captures the ongoing development of my work, pairing finished series with the early sketches and reflections that shaped them.

While the digital archives are currently being built, new data is on the way.

Material and technical studies for the Topographies series

A formation (in the middle), and its topography fragments (left, right), 2026, all drawn with a hard nib.

Formation | Echo | 279223
Ink and charcoal on handmade cotton paper
ca. 28 x 21.5 cm

Topography | Expansion | 224284
Ink and charcoal on handmade cotton paper
ca. 21.5 x 28 cm

Topography | Ridge | 224281
Ink and charcoal on handmade cotton paper
ca. 21.5 x 28 cm

Topography | Flexion | 223283
Ink and charcoal on handmade cotton paper
ca. 28 x 21.5 cm

Topography | Plateau | 216282
Ink and charcoal on handmade cotton paper
ca. 28 x 21.5 cm

Topography | Kemikli | 222280
Ink and charcoal on handmade cotton paper
ca. 28 x 21.5 cm

Material and technical studies for the Twin Studies series

In Coral, I experimented with deckle-edge cotton rag, using Prussian blue instead of Indigo. As well as the materials and the line technique, it was an experiment on my abilities for continuous, performative drawing.

Abstract ink form overlaid with dense, branching line work that resembles the porous structure of a coral reef.

Coral, 2026
Liquid watercolor and ink on handmade cotton paper
Diptych, ca. 9 x 12 cm (each)

The title, Coral, references the organic structure of the image. To mirror the growth of a reef, I created it in a single five-hour “continuum” without interruption. The two halves share an identical material composition, having been torn from the same original sheet of paper.

Instrument: A single nib used for the 5-hour drawing session on Coral.

This monochromatic Indigo study tests mark-making and wash directions that look like a strait, which I kept for The Strait in the final series, even though I ultimately changed the color to Indian ink.

Diptych experiment: Two identical ink stains subjected to different linear interpretations. The line work varies in density and structure to test how the same form changes through drawing.

Indigo Study, 2025

Acrylic ink on a removed journal page

Diptych, 19.4 x 18.7 cm (each)

Close-up on Indigo Study, depicting the fluid structure of the indigo ink and the detailed organic topographical lines.

Close-up on Indigo Study B

From sketch to canvas: the evolution of a sketch

This sketch is a recurring motif in my work, and I am inclined to revisit it once more with a dip pen and Indian ink. I love the sea and diving; drawing her waving hair underwater is how I stay connected to the water, or at least my longing for it.

Initial black pigment pen sketch of the acrylic work Echoes on a journal page.

In-process photograph of the work Echoes by Ilayda Mercankaya, showing the initial acrylic sketch of a female portrait with line art on a turquoise blue background.

Initial sketch, 2024, drawn on a journal with pigment pen during a flight.

First sketch, 2025, over the canvas.

Acrylic portrait of a woman underwater, with eyes closed and waving long hair on an impasto turquoise background.

Echoes, 2025
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 40 cm

Monochromatic portrait of a woman underwater, with eyes closed and waving long hair. The hair consists of dense, waving line work.

Strand, 2024
Watercolor on cotton paper
21 x 29.7 cm

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