Mises-en-abîme
And insomniac dreams
Got me started on 1001 Nights
A pregnancy bladder
Pushed me up this long ladder
Then off I went and took flight…
…so I like anything that is a picture-within-a-picture, a story-within-a-story, a play-within-a-play, a mirror-within-a-mirror and clearly I like hyphens too. This painting, Door Buddha, was mostly painted in 2020 so has absorbed all the energy, frustrations, strangenesses, intimate student relationships and wildnesses of that year and was finished in 2021 with the sense of emerging into a new dawn. It is also a flattened version of the Dome…
…this mirror-in-a-mirror was taken in the toilet of a pizza restaurant. I don't only go to pizza restaurants, I go to museums and galleries too. I managed to see Epic Iran at the V&A just before it closed...
…It was amazing to see some paintings I'd been studying in the flesh. The first one is a famous Behzad image of construction workers, some of whom I'd studied in detail with my lovely students. We changed the guy towards the bottom left holding a panel into a surfer dude - to me he still looks like he's off surfing while everyone else seems to be working hard or otherwise engaged. Have a look over the Past Courses at the Masterclass Black and Dark Faces at https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com for more. Also, there's a ladder (ladders as a symbol are kind of close to my heart as they were mentioned in the very first conversation I had with my now-husband). Below is why I love manuscripts and books so much - just the feeling you get when the book page is open and there is some text on one side with the promise of a good story and then a fantastic painting on the other side, and all the margin to play with. I'll post many more images with more detail over at the forum: https://www.miniaturepaintingforum.com so check back for updates. Beneath is proof of pink paper in the past...
…and pink is just one of the Day-Glo colours I'll be exploring in my new classes on Poison and Night flowers, along with glow-in-the-dark paints and pigments! I'm really, really excited about these, and have wanted to paint these for ages! I'll also be sharing and discussing more about my PhD research too. Nature is weird and wonderful - see that pink dragonfruit above - and we'll start with the Corpse Flower and Voodoo Lily in the Arum family (so related to September's last flower, the Calla Lily or Peace Lily, but much wilder). The darkening skies of Autumn seems a fitting time to explore the dark side of the changing seasons...
...Other big transitions are the seasons of life, and thinking about the innocence of youth as we settle into the Back to School season. For us, it's the very start of school too for my 4 year old - this was him proudly wearing his dinosaur backpack on his first day of nursery school ever. There were no back to school blues this time I suspect as many children seemed to relish the idea of going back to normal. I painted some blues to finish off our opium bed...
...and that road really exists, A1001. I'm kind of collecting instances of 1001 now. I'm also gearing up to organise 2 shows: to exhibit this year's Carpet Pages project, Carpet Pages IV: Flying Carpet , the worldwide travelling project currently in Pakistan which will exist online somehow, and a separate end-of-year student show in the Carpet Pages Gallery. We'll use some of our September Monthly Miniature Meeting to discuss the paintings in the latter show. The meeting is on 21.9.21, 6-7pm London time. Zoom link is via the Forum https://www.miniaturepaintingforum.com or here's the direct link:
SEPTEMBER MEETING
Vaishali Prazmari is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Vaishali Prazmari's Zoom Meeting
Time: Sep 21, 2021 18:00 London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83423169432?pwd=bmJlNkVLVHVRUi9nSDFZaFVCbjlkdz09
Meeting ID: 834 2316 9432
Passcode: 367606
Join by Skype for Business
https://us02web.zoom.us/skype/83423169432
Monthly Miniature Meeting structure:
To start, 20 mins discuss one chapter of My Name is Red which should open up some more broad questions/discussions: we'll discuss the 8th chapter
Focus on somebody's work, one individual to show their work and everyone give feedback, comments, thoughts, suggestions, like a crit in art school, with respect (to be pre-arranged beforehand) 20 mins
Broad questions and discussions 20 mins...
… And I'll be previewing some new brushes at this fair! https://www.deziremi.co.uk/eseahm-kids-fair - Deziremi is one of my favourite Chinese bookshops and I highly recommend them if you are a kid or an adult - they have some English books too. This is a children's fair - Sunday is strictly our Family Day so kids come everywhere with us (well, that is also the default anyway) and so this is perfect. My brushes - especially these new ones - can be used by children too, of course. Start them early! Brush skills are important. If you can't make it to the fair, I'll add the new brushes after to https://www.theperfectbrush.co.uk ...
... the fair is in central London, which I've missed so much. We're going out and about again finally, still being cautious and avoiding crowds (which we dislike anyway). Above is London's skyline as seen from cool green Primrose Hill one Sunday afternoon, and below is the city at night from the river, glorious and sparkling.
Glowingly yours,
Vaishali Prazmari
P.S. If you'd like to reply to these emails but the address info@vaishaliprazmari.com has been bouncing (known issue - trying to sort!) then please reply to my personal address vaishaliprazmari@yahoo.co.uk
P.P.S If you tried to email me in the last 2 months and I haven't responded, it's because I haven't received any emails from info@vaishaliprazmari.com over summer. My apologies, and it is (probably) being sorted out!
