Scroll through this email full of warm copper
Sit down with a cup of tea hearty and proper
If you’re feeling quite SAD
It should make you feel glad
The salmon pink glow of this show-stopper...
..."What is here, you can find elsewhere. But what is not here, is nowhere." Our copper is printed on one side with a beautiful, inspiring quotation so you can use it as a mantelpiece display or cherished bookmark before you contemplate painting. Our current iteration’s quotation is from the Mahabharata. This quotation always sends shivers down my spine and it is perfect for the cabinet of curiosities paintings yet to be created on these surfaces. The printed side is actually the reverse. The painting is done on the front, which is covered with a protective sheet until actual painting is begun. The copper is stamped with our genuine maker’s marks so you can be sure you are buying quality and it comes with pre-sanded edges to protect your hands...
... do you get SAD? Seasonal Affective Disorder? I do. These photos were taken against onion skin tint, itself a warm dye and the whole montage is reminiscent of Olafur Eliasson’s sun installation at Tate Modern years ago when people sunbathed indoors at the gallery, my husband and I included, under its effusive radiance.So this is one possible cure: looking at images of warm copper, or better still, holding some glowing copper in your hands. There is something magical and mysterious about copper. Oils on copper are the most lasting and vibrant of the old master works; the vibrant colours are preserved better on its metal surface and the warm glow of the copper ground strikes through - the ground always strikes through...
…above, you've seen some copper. Our copper surface comes as a set which includes this compositional tool so you can form the Golden Ratio in your images. The Golden Ratio compositional tool is a wooden stencil which you can use to find the golden ratio on your copper. Place the stencil carefully over the copper, as in the video, and trace the inside of the stencil. You will end up with a Golden spiral that exactly corresponds to your copper and you can then use this to plan and design your image...
…like this! Copper is mood-enhancing and its unique colour - also called copper - is uplifting and a cure for melancholy. And (al)chemically, copper has generated many startling colours. Copper’s children include favourites such as copper sulphate (CuSO4) and the copper carbonates are the most beautiful blues and greens. Copper is an element in itself. Cu… soon online, I hope...
...the set also comprises a pop-out wooden palette on which to squeeze oil paints. The wooden palette is based around the Golden Ratio and is shaped like a traditional artist’s palette with finger hole, which was made of wood, and designed to be cradled in the hand or set on your desk. The small size encourages neatness and small amounts of paint and helps to plan your colours accordingly. Yes, oil painting is coming...
…Oils are buttery, creamy, slippery and delicious. Once you start you won’t be able to stop. It takes a bit of time to master; there are few rules - ‘fat over lean’ - and what you see is what you get. Sometimes crisp, sometimes crystalline, sometimes soft with layers of pulsating and shimmering colour that is only possible in this vastly versatile medium. Colours are infinite. Possibilities are endless. You can paint the whole world. It’s the universe in a box, in the company of small paintings that you can display as a collection on a mantelpiece or on your wall. To paraphrase the Mahabharata, what is here in the Cabinet of Curiosities, you will find elsewhere. But what is not here, you will find nowhere. Oil brushes are ever available at https://www.theperfectbrush.co.uk/shop...
... the first Cabinets of Curiosities oil on copper class starts in February. We’ll start this series with the dice. Take a chance on oils on copper and who knows where it will lead… The game of dice has made and ruined fortunes and lost whole kingdoms in the great Indian epic Mahabharata; it is also an innocuous children’s toy used in board games or as an ancient game of chance and luck in itself. https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com
Using - and arguing with - the methodology of the ancient wunderkammern, the cabinets of curiosities of the Renaissance - we will paint a collection of wonders in oils divided into Naturalia, Artificialia and Mirabilia. Classifying the world is not new; the Ancients had their divisions and lists, the Medievals their florilegia and encyclopedias and the Chinese have their own quirky way to ‘measure’ the world with their system of classifiers which I am also studying. To classify is also to divide, so we will ponder what separates one thing from another but also what they have in common, with a more associative mindset inclined to natural magic that doesn’t necessarily support the artifice of separating science from religion. One thing may be related to another sideways or obliquely; the most tenuous of connections can create a relationship or a story. A raven is like a writing desk, a coral like a tree or broccoli and a rhino horn is like a unicorn horn which is like a narwhal horn which is a long thin thing a bit like a pen or a paintbrush. Looking deeply at the ‘thingness’ of a thing engenders a real understanding and appreciation for it, possibly a love for the world around us. We’ll skip around the classes of Naturalia, Artificialia and Mirabilia and move between the worlds, coming up with our own categories and groups of miracles. ...
...Groups of miracles also sometimes happen at our monthly meetings where knowledge is exchanged and art is discussed. The Zoom link is via the Forum https://www.miniaturepaintingforum.com or here's the direct link:
Vaishali Prazmari is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Vaishali Prazmari's Miniature Monthly Meeting 18.1.22
Time: Jan 18, 2022 18:00 London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89068530810?pwd=N3FrTUJFcEw2WVBZKzB2bGVyUlh0Zz09
Meeting ID: 890 6853 0810
Passcode: 022332
Join by Skype for Business
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...and I love both oil painting and miniature painting equally so just can't choose so do both! Here's how the Court of Gayumars is coming along...
… and for more inspiration I saw the Dürer show at the National Gallery in London. It was lovely to see St Jerome working hard in his study. You too can see the show, albeit through my phone lens; I've uploaded some photos and impressions of the show at the forum for your delectation and delight...
...above are our clay planets ready to be made into an orrery. Cold nights and days make me think of the stars and our place in the universe and grand scheme of things; January is a good time for introspection. When it's cold and sunny it's also just about possible to force oneself to take the kids outdoors. They invented a new game. It's called slide tumbling and is fun when there is no-one else in the playground... because it's too cold. It's natural social distancing, like our family trick of going to the beach in midwinter. Not the best ideas and there are always trade-offs but then again that goes for all of life, does it not? However - sometimes, just sometimes, you find things in life that just tick all the boxes in ways you never thought possible. Can it really be true? you think to yourself. Am I dreaming? you say. Is it really possible to print your face on an M&M? Oh yes it is. And we did. Caspian's face was printed on all the rainbow colours of M&M at the flagship store in London. I allow M&Ms as a) I had them as a kid, b) although they are full of chemicals they do come in subtle shades of pastels as well as vibrant colours, really a whole array of faded shades, so we're learning about colour c) the interior is chocolate, not sticky gloopy teeth-rotting candy and d) I like them.
Go have some chocolate and keep warm yourself. Or - to combine these - have some hot chocolate.
Warmly yours,
Vaishali Prazmari