Lovers
Of book covers
Will find herein delight
For the others
(And little brothers)
Copper shining in the light
Let your heart expand and swell when you dwell
On late spring blossoms, paintings, books and shells...
...Here's the first shell, an homage to the humble cowrie shell that is so important for miniature paintings as a burnishing tool, and of course as a symbol of early currency. Painted here in oil on copper...
...a cone shell, which, if you encountered it live, in real life, in its native habitat, might kill you...
…here they are, still life, nature morte, with a first glaze. There will be more. There is nothing like the richness and depth of oils (and the Shells are a class I'll run in future again, as I found it beautifully suitable for beginners)...
Book classes
...It will be on my website https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com and summer is a good time to paint in oils. Here's an unusually large example of oil on copper. Painted by Scipione Pulzone (active by 1569-1598), in 1576. It depicts Antoine Perrenot de Granville, one of 'the most powerful political figures of his time', advisor to Philip II of Spain, diplomat, art collector etc: does he look like a powerful politico to you or a kindly old man? Maybe that was his trick...
...look at the multitude of uniform cracks in the copper. Copper cracks differently to canvas and wood - another reason to paint small...
...a Whistler I hadn't seen before: Young Woman with Cherry Blossom, around 1867-72. I was charmed by the care she is showing her cherry blossom and wondered if the Courtauld had brought out the painting because it was spring. The story goes that Whistler wanted to destroy this painting, which originally was part of a panel that had 3 women, but his patron managed to save this one...
…above, 2 Peter Doigs I liked at the Courtauld show. You can really feel 'the island at night' in the top one, and I love the crazy magic skier below. Beneath, there was a show also at the Courtauld on drawings from the Arabian Nights, a show about Orientalist art. I'll post more on the Forum for miniature painting because they are worth seeing and discussing...
…And this is my Court of Gayumars progress, about time for an update. I would say it's between 68-69% done; all the faces are done and almost all the hands. I still need to do the clothing for all the figures. Once that's done it'll probably go up to 70%. It's a strange way to calculate progress in a painting and it's completely intuitive, not mathematical, and I do it for all my long-marinading works. One of my finished works will be exhibited at the Slade PGR exhibition this week. Details will be on the Slade website and you need to book in advance via Eventbrite; it's a good chance to see PhD work as well as a rare chance to see real Slade PhD students' studios including those of my friends: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/ I also recommend seeing the degree shows! Always around this time, May-June!
Below is my carpet page in progress, my toy theatre in progress (this design got scrapped, and there have been a lot of revisions - that is just part of the design process!) and beneath is... well, have a look...
Page control: Download free Geometry of the Page resources here
...it's my favourite husband teaching our Islamic Bookbinding class! Fuelled by coffee! He drinks it daily! He needs it! I keep asking him to make me more books! Absolutely wonderful students and a joy to teach. We divided the teaching between us - Patrik taught the leather book covers and I taught the binding and painting. In between we even made a bonus miniature book as I just seem to be fixated on those at the moment. So enchanting and so portable!
The class had students of a very high standard, I was super proud and impressed. One lady - Natalia Sirotkina - had bound books before but not in leather, and just above she's painting her leather design with my Rocks brush - which you can get at:https://www.theperfectbrush.co.uk/shop - we used the Rocks and Clouds brushes for painting the leather. Some books were black, some books were brown. All were gorgeous! And look at the variety of painting choices - although the books were the same, there's ample opportunity to personalise the covers. For my own classes, we can even personalise the inner cover with your initials, or the initials of the recipient if it's a gift. I'm running more Books classes in June at: https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com/book-online...
Book the books
...June's Book classes are a Book of Clouds done so that the clouds overlap each other through the semi-transparent pages, beautiful cloudy overlays, and a Book of Tea and a chance to paint teapots. There is a whole museum devoted to teapots called Teapot Island https://www.teapotisland.co.uk in Kent. I highly recommend it. If you don't have the space they have, ie a whole island museum devoted to teapots, you can collect them within the pages of a book! I visited before 2020 and would love to go again. Such a fun and quirky museum; I am a big fan of unusual museums. They are evidence that someone had a passion big enough to preserve and share and - who doesn't love the huggable shape of a teapot?! I am looking forward to painting teapots! Option to use tearstained paper of course. The Carpet Page class has already started for this year; the e-course is available instead:
https://vaishaliprazmaricarpetpage.thinkific.com/courses/make-a-carpet-page - once downloaded is yours to keep forever...
Make a Carpet Page e-course
...I'd love to hear if you've been to any quirky museums. My boys are ready (in terms of age, not necessarily will) to be dragged to unusual museums!
The Zoom link is via the Forum https://www.miniaturepaintingforum.com or here's the direct link:
Monthly Miniature Meeting 20.6.23, 6-7pm London time - all welcome
JUNE MEETING
Vaishali Prazmari is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Vaishali Prazmari's Miniature Monthly Meeting 20.6.23 6 to 7pm London time
Time: Jun 20, 2023 18:00 LondonJoin Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81551608370?pwd=enc5Rzl6WG5ZMzdwL2pwTDN4WkRndz09Meeting
ID: 815 5160 8370Passcode: 944284
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Join the free forum
...Below is a close-up of Natalia's inner book cover design (her book is a gift, by the way!) I look forward to hearing what each student will do with their books, and what the content will be. And a practice sample on leather of the halkar painting technique with gold, again painted with the Rocks and Clouds brushes...
More brushes and beautiful tools here
...which can be purchased here: https://www.theperfectbrush.co.uk/shop Below, rainy wisteria climbing up a London wall seen through a car window. Increasingly, seeing flowers in bloom in spring makes me happy, eg. cherry blossom or wisteria - must be a sign of age...
...what keeps me still young is the toy theatres I'm making and playing with and watching and the May Fayre in Covent Garden this year had some funny Punch and Judy shows, including this crazy Indian guy with his 'Punjeet and Judy-gee' madcap and hilarious show everyone loved...
...including my very own Spiderman and Iron Man. Bookishly yours,
Vaishali Prazmari