First work, then play
So if I may
Share the 7 Domes' way
Then my holiday...
...the 7 Domes in 7 Days series starts in just over a week on Monday 25 July. Here are the preliminary drawings I've made for those, and in general it's a quick 'how-to' about tazhib or illumination. (For those that already signed up, an email is on its way to you with a higher res file of the image to trace if necessary.)
First fold a piece of tracing paper in half. Draw a straight baseline with an HB pencil and straightedge (my new word for 'ruler' as is just less authoritarian somehow!) then draw half a dome. You can think about which dome curve you like; I started with a shallower curve then went for more of an exaggerated onion shape, which is my secret flamboyant favourite, as shared by the Mughals. You can also prepare your paper with different stains as above; onion, tea, herbal tea, avocado all give different colours and since we are matching the colours to the days of the domes, it might be an idea to match the papers too, complementing them...
...next, draw on said prepared paper a baseline and a perpendicular line. This is the centre of your dome. Turn the tracing paper over so the drawn side is face down. Draw over your curved half dome and it will transfer to the paper. Then flip the tracing paper over and trace the other matching half on the other side, and you will have a complete, symmetrical dome in pencil. This is one of the main principles of tazhib illumination; you do not draw the entire image but halve or quarter it then flip it over and trace the other side, which ensures symmetry...
…and then you can start to decorate the interior of your dome. Since in class we will focus on painting, this step needs to be done beforehand. I've tried out several patterns, and the most complex is the full carpet-page style tazhib pattern for the Green Dome, which is repeated in a couple of other domes (with different colourways). The higher res file of this pattern will be sent to those booked in the class. Essentially, find the underlying spirals and leave circles as placeholders for flowers so fine they can only be done with a brush (pencils are a bit too blodgy).
Then it's ready to be inked in with Chinese or Sumi or walnut ink, substituting parallel lines where necessary and drawing in the flowers, Shah Abbas or butterfly-style. Once I've completed my own inked in lines I will share the prepared images via email and social media. There are many ways to decorate domes; I've chosen some of the most classic and iconic miniature painting styles. One is just based on a grid, which again needs to be prepared in advance according to the image and inked in, and the rest will be painted in class...
…The 7 Domes unique painting-teaching-performance is a one-off event series and will be recorded but won’t be repeated. You do not need to take all the classes (at https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com) but the full week incorporates a more comprehensive overview of domes in the ancient architecture of miniature painting. In other prehistoric architecture news (above), we passed Stonehenge on the way to Cornwall. Such a treat to see it from the car. In other other relatively more recent architecture news, the Minack theatre - which was a bucket list must-see for me and a real dream of half my life - was created around the first World War by Rowena Cade, a lady with means and a mission and a passion. It was a real labour of love between her, her gardener and others she roped in to help her build this absolute masterpiece that looks like a Graeco-Roman amphitheatre perched on the edge of a Cornish cliff. Watching real fireworks at the end of a Philip Pullman play called The Firework Maker's Daughter was breathtaking.
Below is St Michael's Mount, a tidal island similar to the more famous Mont St Michel in France (or off France?). We walked across in the morning and came back by boat in the afternoon. This island-not-island and disappearing quality has always fascinated me and was the subject of my MA thesis on Floating Islands (here: https://independent.academia.edu/VaishaliPrazmari)
Below that is one of the world's funnest paintings. I've known this painting in childhood from books but didn't know it was in the collection of Tate St Ives. What a pleasure to see it: its title is 'Oi Yoi Yoi' and couldn't be more apt, just look at it! It's so boingy, just like my family on the beach running from the tide. St Ives is narrow and I loved glimpsing the blue sea in between houses, and then seeing a fabulous view of the turquoise ocean from desolate, hard-to-reach beaches. It could almost be Caribbean...
...Below I did some beach painting, and the sea helped me paint it (as well as my kids). I love an atmospheric beach too; an edge is an edge, in all weathers.
We had a holiday-within-a-holiday to the Isles of Scilly. Ferry to the Scilly Isles and we stayed in a medieval castle shaped like a star. You can see part of its octagonal structure here. And I did some island-watching. Spot the little island which may or may not be called Samson (I looked on several maps and most of the Scillies are named even if they are small rocks, which shows how beloved they are to Scillonians). In the daytime, afternoon, early evening and at sunset...
…And (below) in a pub I spotted some sailor's knots before doing one of my favourite activities: island-hopping with a boatman. St Martin's, Tresco, St Mary's and some other off-islands. We then did some seal spotting and birdwatching with the kids and Captain Caspian even got to drive the boat himself for the way back. The way back to the 'mainland', as Scilly folk call the southwest British Isles (remember, Brits, we all live on an island!) was a plane to Land's End. It really looked like Trinidad and Tobago from the window and, actually, from the Scilly Isles onwards there is nothing except the big blue sea, the wide Atlantic Ocean. South is Spain, and west is the Bahamas!
Below that and back in Cornwall again there were some spectacular coastal sunsets and Britain's only tea plantation because the weather is good enough. Treated myself to some First Flush Tregothnan Single Estate tea for back in London and then went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan where we saw some hidden giants, asleep and awake (my obsession with anthropomorphism as well as islands - which is why faces in rocks and islands particularly fascinate me). Walked across its iconic rope bridge and did not do the famous zip wire at the Eden Project as our kids are too small, though we gaped as others zipped past us. I was happy to see an ancient olive tree in one of the biomes...
...and (below) the whole Eden project felt a bit like the future. If humanity needs to move to another planet we might need to take memories and plants from Earth and make it look a bit like this. I would also definitely take ginger with me, for taste and medicine, as well as garlic. I'd think about the Hawai'ian Ahupua'a system which seems a very logical way to classify an ecosystem based on islands too. We'd have to make our own waterfalls and other natural wonders, which makes me doubly appreciate the ones that came built-in with our home planet. Many features were built-in to the motorhome we rented for our holiday and although we tried them all and realised we didn't need half of them, although it was a good experience. The harbour at Boscastle is also a little anthropormorphic: what creatures do you see here?...
...In other weathers, it's monsoon season for parts of the world. We honour the Monsoon lady next month and Mist at the end of the Indian Summer (at least I hope we get an Indian summer, I love summer!).
MIST Miniatures - a one-off class part of the extra elements series using the traditional classic Indian wash technique of painting. This MIST class has to be done in the hazy lazy end of summer days while it’s still hot. We’ll dip our entire paintings - yes, the entire painting gets a soak - into water several times, washing them using the classic Indian wash painting technique. This is a great chance to learn a traditional technique that is not often taught (maybe because it’s so wet!). We’ll create a silky smooth misty surface from which a figure will emerge. In my imagination this is a bellydancer… We use the same materials as for miniature painting, with the addition of a lot of water. This misty class is spread over 3 days and it’s a flexible technique you can adapt and reuse for many different kinds of painting in future. Bathe your paintings! Important: You’ll need access to water, preferably a sink, in which to wash your painting. Alternatively a bucket of water on the floor or in a kitchen or garden (or in a kitchen garden!) that can be easily accessed. Hairdryer optional. Old rags advisable.
Below that, if you're feeling the heat, and the UK at least is due a heatwave very soon, you might want to cool down and watch some gentle snowfall, as yet other parts of the world go through their wintry season. Snow film at https://www.theperfectbrush.co.uk/shop...
...Everyone likes talking about the weather, it's a standard topic for small talk. Have a miniature painting conversation and chat about related subjects over at the Forum and in our monthly meetings. The Zoom link is via the Forum https://www.miniaturepaintingforum.com or here's the direct link.
...Below: a fascinating exhibition at the Design Museum on ASMR. ASMR is 'autonomous sensory meridian response' and in my layperson's terms this is a feeling of pleasurable satisfaction in a calming way while experiencing something being completed, or the feeling of something being finished off. It is not the same as heightened pleasure or ectasy or euphoria but something more low-grade. I liken it to the feeling of a lipstick case snapping shut. The lid on a lipstick could close equally well without that snapping sound, but the snapping sound was so successful that companies built it into lipsticks as people just needed it. ASMR is not based on just one movement but several. It's a long term for a sensation we've all felt at one time or other and the exhibition looked at some of the triggers, which I'm particularly interested in as they include PAINTING and BRUSHES, both areas close to my heart! Above is Bob Ross' work - he is a legend I've been told about but never knew about until now. He taught painting via film, which is something I also do, and now his work is being used in a different context, not to teach a skill but to watch a skill being mastered and effortlessly executed in order to trigger a calming sensation among a generation that needs to relax due to being overstimulated! How interesting... I envision my own painting meditations to evoke a similar feeling but did not know there was a term for it. More on this later. Another example from the same show is watching, on repeat, this black cylinder being continually sliced. I felt calmed and satisfied watching that too, and it reminded me of a cheese cutter. Not all ASMR triggers involve being super controlled, though: other triggers include whispering, repetitive sounds, preparing food, grooming, tapping, music, crinkly items, crunching snow...
… I'm very controlling of myself (never tried this with other people as they are generally out of control, and kids are off the scale, hah!) and have learnt to an extent to let go of control of the environment... always trying to find a good balance between planning and spontaneity, control and chance encounters. Kids are the best for this, a little bit my way, a little bit their way and we muddle through somehow and sometimes there are sudden swooping rays of sunlight that pierce our moments and imbue them with a reminder that there is something more in control than us, and more important; namely, nature, and in this instance, the sun itself. The sun was a key factor in our holiday and all the more conspicuous when it was absent (as it was in the first couple of days). Things dry quickly in the sun, everyone seems happier, problems seem to evaporate, possibilities seem endless, easier to be spontaneous... you have to think about hydration, you can't walk as much (with kids), you have to pace your energy. So rain is refreshing and although I am a child of summer I have learnt to like the rain too...
...so in the end maybe clouds are a happy medium? Last clouds of sunset at 9pm in the evening on the way back to London, sweeping clouds that remind me of the beloved swirly Chinese clouds of miniature painting. Maybe clouds are some kind of balance; hanging in a blue sky they are the promise or suggestion of rain, but not rain itself, and provide some shade from a scorching sun. Cheers to little fluffy clouds.
Temperately yours,
Vaishali Prazmari