30 Birds in 30 Days - the Conference of the Birds Class series

30 birds in 30 days

30 Birds in 30 Days: منطق الطیر The Conference of the Birds, a month-long bird parliament painting party

Attar’s Mantiq al-tair or Manteq ut-teyr (Language of the Birds) of 1487

30 birds together fly free

In Attar’s perfumed philosophy

Wings, prayers and a poem

Fragrant feathers fly home

Think and paint like a master Sufi

Paint the 30 birds from Attar’s Conference of the Birds in the 30 consecutive calendar days of November. In each day’s 1 hour class we’ll paint a different bird from the classic Sufi poem.

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At a gathering of the birds, the wise Hoopoe suggests they all search for the Simurgh, or phoenix, who can be their leader. After many adventures and much peril, involving travelling through 7 valleys (of the Quest, of Love, of Knowledge, of Detachment, of Unity, of Wonderment and of Poverty and Annihilation, each more spiritually refining than its precursor), only 30 birds are left. At the end of their journey they finally realise that they themselves make up the Simurgh (si (30) murgh (birds)).

This unique intensive 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 although to experience the full intensity and drama of the spiritual journey then I recommend taking all the classes, since the full canticle provides a comprehensive artistic overview of bird typology with a variety of beaks, tails and feathers. Follow these fowls and join me as we paint one of the most famous Sufi poems of all time ~

Like birds, timings for these classes also flit around to catch different time zones and moods.

£30 per bird (half-price at weekends when my own nestlings may be present)

1 hour and 1 bird per day

Ideal for portfolio-building and painting practice and gearing up to a sustainable form of daily painting exercise

Mon £30: 11-12pm

Tues £30: 10-11pm

Wed £30: 9-10pm

Thu £30: 11am-12pm

Fri £30: 3-4pm

Sat £15: 8-9pm

Sun £15: 10-11am

All London time

The following birds are in miniature manuscript paintings of the Conference of the Birds.

1. Hoopoe

2. Nightingale

3. Parrot

4. Peacock: so spectacular that, separately, a whole class will be devoted to this fabulous bird in future. Instead of the national bird of India, here we will paint the national bird of Nepal, the Himalayan Monal Bird, a good Peacock alternative

5. Duck

6. Partridge

7. Homa: a mythical bird. Here you invent your own fantasy bird, as they also did in ancient miniatures. Reminiscent of the phoenix, it is said to be eternally in flight

8. Hawk

9. Heron or crane

10. Owl (and raven, from a Kalila wa Dimna tale)

11. Finch

12. Falcon

13. Francolin

14. Pheasant

15. Pigeon or Turtle dove

Above are the 30 birds are mentioned by name, and the rest we will imagine. 30 birds is enough to provide a comprehensive overview of some of the most beautiful and spectacular birds in the world, after which you’ll have a typology of birds from which to inspire future bird conferences. Aiming for a variety of birds in terms of both size, shape and colour and based on the classification of bird orders as well as appearances in myth and legend.

16. Ostrich

17. Flamingo

18. Hummingbird

19. Bird of Paradise

20. Woodpecker

21. Lilac breasted roller

22. Pelican

23. Vulture

24. Turkey: it happens to be Thanksgiving today in the US too so let’s celebrate it with Mansur’s magnificent Mughal turkey

25. Kingfisher

26. Hen

27. Peacock pheasant

28. Dipper

29. Victoria crowned pigeon

30. Green magpie

You will need:

- Miniature painting supplies (go to the Forum at www.miniaturepaintingforum.com > Resources for a full list of supplies)

- Paper ready prepared with relevant bird on it, traced and transferred and the lines inked in. You can use mine as templates, or even print mine out and colour in if you want to take it as a relaxed colouring session.

Please note that we will not cover the preparation and teastaining of the paper in this class (that is covered in other miniature classes); it is a painting only class.

You can choose to do 30 separate birds or combine them all into one larger painting.

It was in China, late one moonless night, The Simorgh first appeared to mortal sight – He let a feather float down through the air,

And rumours of its fame spread everywhere

The Simurgh itself is also covered by separate class, the Fire class of the Elements series.

Good afternoon, good evening and goodnight!

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I recommend Darbandi and Davis’s translation in English and there is a PDF here: https://sufipathoflove.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/the-conference-of-the-birds.pdf

For more information on one of the most famous miniature paintings (currently being recreated by my students also): https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mant/hd_mant.htm

A conversation-performance on the Conference of the Birds: https://carolinebergvall.com/work/conference-after-attar/ For younger readers: Peter Sis and Demi have illustrated great children’s books on The Conference of the Birds.

I have definitely, definitely missed out some important birds of the world here (toucans, orioles, sparrows, little garden birds…!) - I have chosen to prioritise those birds found in miniature manuscript paintings, particularly Mughal manuscripts as they were encyclopaedic in their attempt to paint everything (cf Mansur’s work). Next I have chosen a broad spectrum from the bird orders. One notable lack is the seabirds. So no penguins, puffins nor albatrosses - and they are really important too! (Although unlikely to have been painted in miniature paintings.) We’ll cover some other birds in some other ways someday sometime…

And now for the birds which you can download or copy in high res - BUT in order to make the series doable I really recommend you print them out a bit smaller, say smaller than A5 size even, perhaps even A6: this makes the colour fill quicker and then you can focus on the rendering. Of course, if you have more time you may like to paint them bigger. Alternatively you can paint some smaller and some bigger; if you really like a bird (I LOVE the Pelican for instance! Just look at it!!) you could paint it bigger, and paint some other birds smaller which are also physically more diminutive (Nightingale, Dipper, etc).

The number of the bird corresponds to the November date we'll paint it, eg. bird 17 we'll paint on 17 November:

1. HOOPOE

2. NIGHTINGALE

3. PARROT

4. NOT PEACOCK, MONAL

5. DUCK

6. PARTRIDGE

7. HOMA

8. HAWK

9. HERON or CRANE

10. OWL (and Raven)

11. FINCH

12. FALCON

13. FRANCOLIN

14. PHEASANT

15. PIGEON or DOVE

16. OSTRICH

17. FLAMINGO

18. HUMMINGBIRD

19. BIRDS OF PARADISE

20. WOODPECKER

21. ROLLER

22. PELICAN

23. VULTURE

24. THANKSGIVING TURKEY

25. KINGFISHER

26. HEN

27. PEACOCK PHEASANT

28. DIPPER

29. CROWNED PIGEON

30. GREEN MAGPIE

Whoohoo!!

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