Prints and books and desert nights
Sandy futures and empty flights
To start with
Some artists
And art throughout
As we're moving out
Art at the bottom
Shops I haven't forgotten
A goodbye moon
See you soon...
...Launched: It's HERE: the print of A Recreation of The Court of Gayumars is ready.
It’s my first ever print and I am excited! Have 10% off as an introductory discount, apply the discount code at checkout -
Discount code: GAYUMARS10 Go to vaishaliprazmari.com and under Court of Gayumars > Prints
Get yours here: https://www.vaishaliprazmari.com/category/all-products ...
Buy the print
...A Limited Edition A3 or A4 Fine Art Giclée Print of A Recreation of the Court of Gayumars on Hahnemühle archival paper
A recreation of the eternal Court of Gayumars by Sultan Muhammad (c. 1520-25).
"When the sun entered the sign of Aries,
the world was filled with splendour, order and light...
the world was completely rejuvenated.
Gayumars then became master of the world..."
Mine's an updated and more diverse representation of human skin colours and I've also added birds and kids (spot them). I could spend hours looking for anthropormorphic creatures and divs in the colourful rocks. Enjoy the pantheism and lose yourself in it.
2 size options
LARGER (30 x 40cm)
- The original original is closer to the A3 size. I recommend this if you would like to study it very closely and if you would like to display it. This is the larger variant, 30 x 40cm.
SMALLER (21 x 28cm)
- My own recreation is closer to A4 size (yes, I recreated it even smaller than the original which was a challenge!). I recommend this if you would like to own a piece of art closest to the original. This is the smaller variant, 21 x 28cm.
For custom sizes, or for hand-applied 24 carat gold leaf or gold paint options please contact me personally..
…More news: we're starting in-person classes in Islamic Bookbinding and Miniature Painting at our London studio. Come join us and make a book!...
Book an in-person class at our studio
…it's like the Vogue September issue - lots of news to share. This handmade handbound fine leather binding was made by Patrik Prazmari and I finished painting it in shell gold...
...Nothing inside this one as we have so many books and I teach the interior contents of the books separately. What would you put in yours?...
Come to our studio
...here's Mr Prazmari looking at his book at the Inspired From Manuscripts exhibition at SOCO Fujairah. Scroll down the exhibition website to view more photos of the occasion. Next to our book is calligrapher Khalid Pablo's excellent calligraphy muraqqa (album). Two masters...
...Four Friends. This is my work in Fujairah and I just love that quick shot of the last minute cleaning before the show opened. Actually this is a reversible painting but the Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi of Fujairah had to walk down the middle of the gallery so they had to be hung on one side only...
...It was a pleasure to meet His Highness, he was actually pretty relaxed and interested in what I had to say. We had a short conversation about my work and he made a comment no-one has ever made before. The work is about 4 unlikely friends that band together to escape the hunter - 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' - the old advice from the Kalila wa Dimna (a nested tales story). My (vegetarian) perspective is cheering for the animals. His Highness replied: What a useless hunter!! His royal perspective was... the hunter! A ruler with a sense of humour. (The tall unsmiling guy to his right, though, you don't mess with.) ...
Book classes
Join 1001 Nights Reading Group anytime!
Book an in-person class at our studio
...More bookish treats: a Grimoire, a Book of America (celebrating all that's good and great about the early idea of America, the poor, the tired, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free and the American Dream - not recent news) and inside the book - the margins of the pages. This particular margin is to complement and complete an ongoing class on a Dharamdas painting (in the British Library), though you don't need to be painting the inside painting to do the fantastically intricate Mughal margin.
The rest of 2024 is imaginative, playful, more freeform yet with roots in traditional painting. It’s the theatre, the circus and real characterful characters. We slowly saw the last of the traditional architecture, calligraphy and volvelles series and said hello to more shaped books, raised books and started with pop-up books. 2024 is alive and animate. We transitioned out of a Gayumars mentorship to a scroll apprenticeship. It’s merry and fun and more deeply immersed at the same time in this mad frolicking world that loves life and dancing in the margins. Harness your Dragon energy and have all the fun of the fair.
Or if you're in London in October, November or December, come to our studio and make books with us or paint! In-person classes start, yes, officially 4 years after the pandemic and everyone else has opened up their own studios. Better late than never...
More brushes and beautiful tools here
...Something else you'll find inside Islamic manuscripts: beautiful carpet pages. This exquisite carpet page example, also exhibited in the Fujairah show, is by Haya Al Ketbi. Haya, I didn't have the pleasure of meeting you this time but I think your work is absolutely beautiful, a real star of the show.
If you want to make a beautiful painting you need beautiful brushes...
You can take a look at the full range of my brushes. And if you want to paint your own Carpet Page download my Carper Psge e-course which is yours to keep forever. Alternatively, purchase some easy-watching, relaxing painting films.
You can get your own ALADDIN toy theatre here: https://www.theperfectbrush.co.uk/product-page/aladdin-paper-toy-theatre...
...The real star of the show was Dr Esra Alhamal and her immersive mirror room. I genuinely loved this, as I also love mirrors, and I genuinely got lost. (So Esra, it worked! It really was truly immersive). An amazing and huge showpiece at the entrance to the show and I was happy to wander through it with my kids, mesmerised by the animated patterns. What a labour of love and what logistic magic!...
...Other artists's works I liked, from top to bottom, left to right: Sara Abdali (who studied with me at the School of Traditional Arts - Sara, I haven't seen you in years!), Elham Pourkhani (I love the floating feeling of the trees), two works by savant geometer Rajen Astho, and clearly another master calligrapher with a great taste in framing, Mosab Al Doori. And little Kashi exhibiting his Lego helicopter for the camera.
Lots to catch up! The monthly meeting link is also over at the Forum, which now is a real hub of information and you just need to scroll around or use the Search tool to find information. It's sorted into broad categories too.
The Monthly Miniature Meeting in October on Zoom is on 22 October 2024 from 6pm - 7pm, London time - all welcome. The link is via the Forum https://www.miniaturepaintingforum.com
Meeting ID: 850 2325 2168
Passcode: 749427...
Join the free forum
...Now let's take a trip into the desert. A dry landscape as seen from the comfort of Emirates Airlines. Rocky sandy terrain as seen from the comfort of an air-conditioned car. In fact AC was so common that I'm glad I wore long sleeves indoors despite the heat outside hovering around 40 degrees Centigrade. We glimpsed a Beluga on the runway, the world's biggest plane.
Our plane was empty - only 28 people on the entire long-haul flight (which was nice! We could lie down!) It does make you think of the future, and of waste, and wastelands, and deserts. The modern (skyscrapers) and the ancient (a dinosaur), in the world's biggest shopping mall. The Museum of the Future in Dubai was an architectural, calligraphic stunner. It was important for me to keep homeschooling/worldschooling our kids. I like it when museums do this job for me. I thought it was wonderfully presented and perfect for kids. We loved the 'seed bank' room, thousands of animal and plant species laser 3D printed in glass and lit with LED lights. So simple yet effective. There were random robots walking or flying around, such as this drone whale in the air, and we thought about space, orreries, calligraphy (which is timeless - I have a new-found appreciation of this venerable art form which I don't practise myself), moving to Mars, which is itself a desert. In the shopping mall there was a newly built Chinatown. A Little China in the UAE: the kids practised reading their Chinese characters, and advertised my friend's show by sticking all the stickers on their T-shirts...
...Another day, another Emirate. This time, meeting a friend in Sharjah. First, what is going on in that white desert landscape? Anyone know? Is it a quarry? Caspian and I were quite taken with the painted reddish desert landscape (which we'd spent 2 hours looking at on the way). And then: a painting titled 'A Thousand and One Nights'! 1994, by Widad Al Orfali from Iraq.
It was good to get an overview of art from all over the Arab world in the Sharjah Art Museum, from the Orientalists (in the next section - the little boy in the painting looks like Kashi asking for water) through to the modern era...
Paint some birds
...the Sharjah Art Foundation showcases contemporary art. Galleries in the West are not normally open in the evening, but I really appreciated this in the desert, and the opportunity to see the stunning desert architecture transition from evening to night. If you're feeling cold, gorge yourself on the beautiful hot night pictures, which are a heat battery for me too. I loved the open air cinema on the side of the building. The intense blue work is by Bouchra Khalili: Between Circles and Constellations. We also went to the Museum of Islamic Civilisation which had a manuscript section that rekindled my love for tiny books...
...If you love books then your ideal home is a library. This library in Port Lympne, Kent hosted Prime Minister Lloyd George, who had a secret hotline from here to the Elysée Palace in Paris- maybe the world's first! There was a beautiful green door, stepped hedges and the familiar English rain. Kashi was not happy about this. The statuesque giraffes and deer were fine. Look at that glistening white fairytale deer. It's not an albino, it's just that sometimes they occur.
Over in Cambridge, the Women's Art Collection showed a piece by Wangechi Mutu which we were told by the curator would not be shown for another 10 years, as after this it has to rest. Wow! So enjoy the drawings (sorry for reflections). The WAC really do an amazing job - not only is it Europe's largest collection of art made by women, the art is spread all over the entire college. The halls, lecture theatres, rooms - everywhere you go, you will encounter artworks made by women artists. Well done Cambridge!
Emirately yours,
Vaishali Prazmari
P.S. I wanted to end with something eternal: the full mid-autumn moon as glimpsed between 2 houses, and a farewell to this place as we're moving out. And near where I used to live 20 years ago in London, some things never change: the shop Happy Nightmares is still going! I love crazy shop names that almost go out of their way to put you off their business. They've moved premises too, but the name remains. It certainly is memorable. Others I like include a couple of hairdressers in South London: 1. Curl Up and Dry, and 2. Blow Jobs. South Londoners, tell me you don't smile every time you pass them. Sweet dreams!
