Dreaming Of Byzantium - stage 1

After abandoning a number of ideas that just didn't cut it in the final instance I settled on this, another Orientalist picture, an imagination of Byzantium (Constantinople, the modern day Istanbul) in it's heyday. This is very much a fantasy as I have moved elements of the skyline around, made it taller and added a gateway to the port. I nearly called it "Sailing Into Byzantium" but that is very similar to the title of a famous poem. The top part of the city will be lit by a low, golden sun with the lower part melding into the morning mist (or is it evening?).
The first stage was "drawn" with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Lukas Number 5 Medium so that it would be dry for the afternoon session when I blocked in some colour underpainting including some tonal indications of what elements I intend to paint in like boats in the harbour and the buildings.