This was a summer of Blue
(A month of sunshine, it's true)
Making books, seeing shows
Climate change is real, don't you know
Playing with tjantings
Reading Silent Spring
Autumn's here all too soon
And India's now on the Moon...
...Water, water, all around, and not a drop to drink (let's hope it doesn't come to that). Work in progress, with a lot of blue (eldest's son's favourite colour so diving deep into it with him too)...
...more water at the British Library's Animals show which I managed to catch just before it ended. I've included almost every single miniature painting in the show in this email, although it wasn't a show specifically about miniatures nor paintings. I use such images in my Water class. It was a fitting end to summer and to think about autumn plans and paintings and more things to see and do and make...
…Every summer I do cyanotypes with the children. It's a way of marking our summers and their growth. You can see my hand and my toddler's hand, a blurry image because toddlers are quite blurry in general and don't stay still for long. You see the image of my eldest's hand getting clearer over the years as his attention span steadies! This year I also experimented with doing cyanotypes on fabric - which worked really well! - and cyanotypes on tracing paper. Coming soon to a book near you...
...I initially devised my Books classes for worldwide students and thought of tracing paper as something standard and easily obtainable by all (it's not, not in China, and I've also learnt that the 'international' A paper sizes such as A4, A3 are not used everywhere!). Since then I've fallen in love with tracing paper as a substrate in itself. The semi-transparency really appeals to me and I also make works directly on it. I like thin papers in general. And beautiful tools. What's the beautiful brass tool above? (Answer further down!)...
...More manuscript paintings in BL books. Look at that horse! It's a 'diagram of a horse's good points', an Arabic treatise from 1223 listing 27 diseases that can affect a horse. Later on in the treatise there's another picture marking a horse's 'defects', not shown as you can only exhibit one double page spread of a book at a time. See, if they had painted on tracing paper... The margins of Thomas Moffet's Insectorum Theatrum (Theatre of Insects, before 1590) is full of crickets and grasshoppers. I saw the 2nd grasshopper in my life this month in our bathroom. I put it back in the garden, poor thing. Chinese people like to keep crickets as pets in cages to hear their chirping. Buddhists like to release them to gain merit. One day real animals might be so rare, as in Blade Runner, that they command high prices as pets. I hope that never comes true. What a mad world.
Speaking of margins, I am thinking a lot about the margins of a manuscript page. It's natural alongside the bookmaking (here: https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com). MARGINS are a new class series focusing on the margins of a manuscript page. These are as important as the main image. We first start by honouring past artists with their coloured portraits - in the Mughal school we can see named figures in the margins - and then move on to more fantastic margins, also involving gold. All part of the deep dive into the book arts. To cover all artists and/or ‘doodles’ for comprehensiveness this class takes place over 6 weeks. You will need teastained and prepared paper ready for class unless otherwise indicated. This is so that gold (if done in class - not all classes require gold) shows up more beautifully. Instructions for this. can be found on the Forum: www.miniaturepaintingforum.com (search for Paper Prep). We give as much importance, love and attention to details to the margins as to the main image. Upcoming are fantastic beasts and creatures including the dragon and simurgh, lots of gold, sessions on colourful margins that are more interesting than their main image, possibly even some gold sprinkling. Also to think about are different paper types; dyed margins; blues, pinks and turquoises. Perhaps the stories in the margins tell us more…
Speaking of books: make your own Carpet Page. Instructions here:
https://vaishaliprazmaricarpetpage.thinkific.com/courses/make-a-carpet-page - once downloaded is yours to keep forever...
Book classes
Instructions to follow to make your own Carpet Page here
...So happy to see my friend Jethro Buck's painting at the British Library! His work 'Fritillary' opens the show and he wants to spread awareness about animal conservation, here about the UK's most threatened species of butterfly. Then, a Japanese camel: Dutch traders brought camels to Japan in the early 1800s as diplomatic gifts. I like these 'first encounters', first moments meeting a new large animal through history....
Watch painting films
…It was also my first encounter with the painting 'Squirrels in a Plane Tree' as it's known, attributed to Abu'l Hasan Nadir al-Zaman (the 'wonder of the age'). Red squirrels are not native to South Asia. Emperor Jahangir had an interest in exotic and strange animals so he commissioned artists to paint them. This painting is some of my friends' and students' absolute favourite miniature of all time. Although it's not my favourite I went back 3 times as it was quiet and photographed it in great detail, having discovered the iPhone function that lets you Zoom in with magnification. I'll post these super detailed photos on the Miniature Painting Forum later. I stared and stared at it until my eyes watered. Just looking at paintings is an education in itself! Staring silently and absorbing its lessons. I've got lots of finely edited miniature painting films available at: https://www.theperfectbrush.co.uk/watch and many more on the way.
More insects and dragonflies in a Japanese folding book. Speaking of books, more book classes here: https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com The Book of Games: Rain, rain, go away… what do you do indoors on rainy days when you can’t go out to play? In the era before iPads, we played board games, or table games as they are sometimes known. We’ll delve into the 3 types of games as described in the Libro de los Juegos, the old Spanish translation of the Arabic treatise describing various tabletop games, and explore the links between the historic games and the ones we played ourselves as children. In later classes we will do a deep dive into each game; this book is a primer for each game type. Paint the original Game of Thrones, the original table game and the Game of Life itself in a book. In green leather, like a classic games compendium. Since these are book classes, we will also be developing our bookmaking skills and learning new book cover techniques with the leather gradually. This is also a slightly bigger book than previous classes and we will be getting bigger with time too.
The Book of War: I am anti-war. (Unless it’s interstellar and we have to save humanity - so one could argue that we ought to be pulling together anyway to fight climate change to practise.) Yet war is a fact of human reality. States of war interspersed with peacetime. Throughout history there have been beautiful ways to defend oneself, which is the more interesting problem for me. Beautiful Renaissance helmets and European, Chinese, Japanese, Persian and Indian armour reminiscent of miniature paintings with gold and engraving. There are so many metaphors and symbols in daily life that have their origins in that ugliest, basest of human instincts. Chess is a game of war (which is covered in another Book) as is the ancient and complex game of Go. We’ll take the position of peace lovers and omit weaponry in this book. Sun Tzu’s Art of War is now a business classic. There are many interesting things we can glean from it too. ‘The dust rising in the terrain signals movement.’ We’ll use glitter and base our book on love for humanity. Finally, since this is a strange and somewhat special book, and we are living in interesting times, I might ask my husband if he can design a shield for the book cover, the first 3D relief element in a book cover we'll do, so we’ll see what we’ll get. Working with one’s spouse is like playing the opening gambit in a game of chance in itself…
Book book classes
…Here are some finished books (now you see why margins were invented!). These are officially miniature books; we've moved on to pocket books and soon there will be small books. They may or may not fit in your pocket. Producing books inspired by tradition seems like an act of resistance. Painting seems like an act of defiance too. Against AI - not that I am actually for or against it - it is necessary to be a human, counterbalancing force. I am equally inspired by science fiction...
...The climate crisis isn't science fiction, it's real. The Dear Earth show at the Hayward Gallery in London is still on if you're here and want a wake-up call. Otobong Nkanga - one of my favourite artists - says: 'Care is a form of resistance.' She's right. It's anti-aggressive. Although in a patriarchy women shouldn't only be carers, and not only women should be the carers. Here's to all carers, nurses, teachers, paramedics, firefighters and more I haven't mentioned before. In previous newsletters, which you can find in the Newsletter Archive on the forum: https://www.miniaturepaintingforum.com/forum/newsletter-archive I've mentioned all of my above heros. You'll notice there aren't any celebrities. Although they have money, power and influence I am also skeptical of 'it's for charity'. NOT of charity itself - but of certain organisations that have been found to be corrupt, and of influencers using heart-wringing causes to bolster their own names. If you give, give quietly and without fanfare. I don't use social media to rally people to support causes - currently - as I'm unsure of the back-end, of who is ultimately really benefitting from our attention and eyes on adverts and also who ultimately ends up with the cash. I prefer to help directly if and when I can. I'm sure there are many thoughts on this. 'Charity begins in the home' - and care is a form of resistance. Ask me about my painting of the Rickshaw Man sometime and I'll explain it to you. It's also here: https://www.vaishaliprazmari.com ...
...Otobang Nkanga's amazing work in Dear Earth makes me want to get weaving again. Also I have a special affection for indoor trees. Let's also hope that trees always exist outdoors.
And now for some good news: India is on the moon! Years ago I posted (on social media - as yes some things are so great they are worth sharing) about a Slovak film where a peasant is so impressed by astronauts on the moon that he is 'thinking of going there himself'. It starts with a dream... like the Indian scientists who brought rocket parts on bicycles and failed, and then tried again, and now have succeeded, to land on the moon! In space terms, on a shoestring budget no less! I am impressed, go India! And thank you India for reigniting my own space dreams. Although I also think we are a ridiculous pre-Warp species that still uses extractive technology that destroys our own planet before having achieved lightspeed. No other civilisation in the known universe does that - it's insane. (They exploit other planets, obviously - war being a fact of the Dark Forest theory.) Still, we crazy humans are worth saving and if you're out there, aliens, please ignore all the trash and don't measure human worth based on its daytime TV. Look at our art instead...
More brushes and beautiful tools here
...New stock, and also a new unusual brush, for the Perfect Brush is coming soon too. Here: https://www.theperfectbrush.co.uk/shop
...Above, my favourite artist Cristina Iglesias' work in Dear Earth. If you know me and my work, although I don't do monumental sculpture (and hardly any sculpture at all), you'll know why I admire her work so much. I saw it as an impressionable teenager for the first time in London and it gave me permission to mix materials sensitively, and now I feel I can. K loved it too: it was a room within a room, a green meditative pavilion where there was water rushing into a whirlpool beneath our feet. He asked to go back a few times. C loved the outdoor monumental bamboo sculpture which you were invited to play as a giant musical instrument. He doesn't love paintings so much, since that is 'mama's work', so I told him that this was what art can be, and he was impressed. Maybe kids respond to sculpture more easily since it's direct and they can relate to it with their bodies. We also related to (ie. ate) strange fruits (for us) this summer. We tried kumquats, rambutan, guava (which is not strange to me but very familiar actually), passionfruit, tamarind, aloe vera (which was disgusting raw, so we used it as shower gel instead). Rambutan is like a deeper-tasting lychee and delicious. I'm not sure we were supposed to eat kumquats just like that ...
...We watched the Wizard of Oz musical. Great singing, shame about the set. I'm into hand-painted sets and paper theatres. I sound like a right old traditionalist but there you go, I really do think we've lost something (kids loved it but I want them to see real theatre!). I know real theatres probably have to compete with movies. Video killed the radio star (and even cinemas are fighting to survive - go watch the Barbie film if you want a dose of considered, inspirational laughter!); Patrik says it's cheaper to project video on a set than hire actual painters (!!!). I'm hugely enjoying making my Aladdin toy theatre which will hopefully be ready by Christmas. I'm almost finished designing the real, hand-drawn stage set. Soon to come are the little characters...
...My own little characters did batik this summer too. That's what the tjanting brass tool is for: it holds liquid wax and lets it drip out slowly so you can paint your design. And then the wax dries and it all gets clogged up! I poured boiling water through it but perhaps someone has a better solution. And then they went wild with not only blue but all colours of tie dye, end of summer party.Have you ever seen incense curl like this? I've burnt a lot of incense and I've never seen it spiral like this from a straight stick.
Reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, an urgent wake-up call. I never have and now I never will use pesticides in the garden. I don't even see weeds as enemies, I see them as free food ;-) I made my own nettle tea and soup during pregnancy. I'm sure there is much more people do than me so I'd like to find out. Watch out, dandelions, here I come! We also have thistles. We're naturally rewilding our garden (= too lazy to actually 'garden'. But also, wildlife is welcome there!) Having mostly got rid of the carpet moths last month using pheremone traps and also throwing away what they were munching on, I see far fewer moths flying around. I'm sad to say I also sprayed moth killer a few times in the studio out of panic - apparently it doesn't kill other kinds of moths (which I love!), only the clothes ones. Who knows, though, what it actually really does. I don't need to use it anymore. I will stick to traditional incense. Even clothes moths are life forms. It's interesting where my vegetarianism stretches to when it comes to unwanted pests. What do vegans do about bedbugs? I know what Buddhists and Jains do but I have to prioritise my time and thankfully it was just moths. I will not kill the odd flying around clothes moth, as they are likely the last of their family and perversely I am impressed by their survival skills despite it all. I will just gently bat them outside and encourage them to go into the garden. Maybe they'll evolve to eating weeds, in which case they'll be in competition with me. We have to live with all animals in houses, not exterminate them completely, as then who knows what resurges with a vengeance. I'm learning about balance and I love spiders and luckily I am generally not repelled by most insects...
... Have you ever seen a 6-legged creature like this? This creature is known as the Gatekeeper. It will not let you pass unless you have got a ticket.
Silently yours,
Vaishali Prazmari
... Still no ticket...