I’m going to attempt to summarise...
I am admittedly very very early on in my artistic journey, I finished school abruptly in March 2020 when the UK lockdown began and was supposed to be starting an Art History degree last September, due to the pandemic and my situation I deferred my university place and that’s how I ended up here! I had a lot of time on my hands and decided to dedicate myself to spending this year learning new artistic techniques and other skills.
During working on my Art A Level I became very interested in Assyrian relief work - I love the extraordinary level of detail in them, the Cuneiform script and the symbolism in the images. I grew up looking at art from all kinds of cultures but mostly at western illuminated manuscripts and art of the Italian Renaissance so, encouraged by my interest in Assyria, I really want to learn more about the arts of the east. I began looking at miniature paintings quite recently and I love their intricacy, rich colours and their role in storytelling! I have been taking Vaishali’s online miniature painting courses for the past few months and I love the process and want to keep improving! I’ve been starting to learn Arabic over the last couple of months, too. So, currently I’m painting, reading and learning!
As for where I hope to go, I’d like to keep learning and expanding my understanding of cultures whilst developing my artwork. I’m going to see where things take me!
@Nadia Madden Aha thank you! Wow Persian calligraphy sounds wonderful, I hope it’s going well for you! Thanks for the link, I’ll have a look.
@Vaishali Prazmari and @Nadia Madden Ah wow thank you - I’m really loving taking the miniature courses, and meeting people and sharing ideas through them has been great and honestly a real lifeline over the past few months. I love this community, too! :-)
The nice thing about Arabic is how logical it is.....words are based on 3-letter Semitic roots, and then there about 10 different variations where you add something in the front or change the vowels and they make predictable changes.....so KiTaB is book, KaTaBa is to write, KaTiB is a writer, maKTaB is a school.....it's very fun for word play and letter play as well.
Yes Arabic is going to be a long journey for me as it's not a language I have any exposure or experience in - it's not Indo-European so no reference point there. The calligraphy is a dream yes but will have to wait a while for me I think - and in terms of calligraphy I think Persian calligraphy is also beautiful, especially nastaliq and Persian is unique for all its ligatures (special ways to join letters; in English s and t joined together are nice too). I'll wait till I know more and then it will be more meaningful! For me the Arabic language sounds as well are a lot harder to grasp (Persian is Indo-European so I have a foothold!). Yes, it's an honour to have Anastasia, isn't it! Thank you for saying so. I love our community!
@Anastasia Doran the blue lipstick is simply awesome! I am excited that you and @Vaishali Prazmari are both learning Arabic....I studied a bit in high school but never took it further....now I am learning persian calligraphy which has the same script, so maybe we can share that part of the journey together! Nuria Garcia is going to be teaching a course on Arabic Calligraphy at the Prince's School in March so that may be a way to learn about the artistic side of Arabic, if you are interested. What a year for a gap year.....I so miss having time for books, reading and learning. It's been such an honor to be doing course work with you, you clearly have serious talent and it's exciting to see it emerge in this art form!
Yes, @Anastasia Doran and @Alison Guest you should definitely connect! 2 art historians here and Alison, you're a professional - I did a Masters in History but that was more broad for the contextual studies of miniature painting (Medieval and Renaissance Studies at UCL - highly recommended course if anyone is thinking of it!) We love your input at the monthly meetings Alison too!
Hi Anastasia! Painting, reading and learning sound like the best use of your time; I can't think of better things to be doing right now actually! And yes - I'm a beginner in Arabic too so separately we can follow this journey together! If you're very very early in your journey then my sons are very very very early... and one hasn't even started! However - you could say that looking - and then truly seeing - are lifelong skills that all artists of all ages need to hone. So I would say that you're at a good point in your journey and not a complete beginner as you have a great hand. It's a good point as you can still absorb so much of the world and are in a great position to keep on learning which is good for you. I do also believe in my teaching also that you don't start from absolute scratch (as you are not a baby!) but indeed take and blend elements of what they already know and have experienced before. In your case it's your love of Assyrian reliefs that continue into miniature painting and it's a fascinating continuum, especially the symbology of lions. I'll probably do a course in lions at some point as they also feature in my favourite painting of all time (that one.. Court of Gayumars!) (after the elephants, camels etc and all the other interesting beasties!)
I love your hair and I LOVE your blue lips. I love all hair actually and want to paint it all! You should definitely paint yours and also your blue lips as a miniature one day! Good strong photo with red leaves, green grass and blue lips ;-)
I hope you get to do your Art History Anastasia, and hope that universities are lenient and understanding. When you do make it to London, hope I can show you around a bit - so many galleries, libraries and museums - it's a real treasure trove! And below at the British Museum, standing and silently waiting for you...
I am so happy to hear your enthusiasm! You are going to have such a wonderful time at university once we are over the Covid and everyone is safe. I spent hours walking around it too! I have always loved those pieces but o see them arranged in such a way as open up that whole historical period was just brilliant. And such great timing for you! Hoping to see you on Wednesday!!! Very best wishes to you, Alison
How lovely to see you here! And when we met in class I somehow did not get that you are going to study Art History! Sorry!! That is my subject too and I have studied and taught all my grown life so it is so lovely to realize that you are at the beginning of, what has been for me, the most wonderful journey!!!!! And those Assyrian reliefs!!!! Big favorite of mine too -- did you see the exhibition at British Museum a couple of years ago? Unbelievable!!!!! Again, so happy to see you here -- maybe we will meet again on Wednesday over My Name is Red? My very best wishes, Alison