TALES OF THE MARVELLOUS AND NEWS OF THE STRANGE CLASSES
‘Aja’ib wa-Ghara’ib
Starts 3 January | £349 | Online
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Food providers. The farmer is a staple figure in miniature paintings, you see them crop up now and then and this is a great example of an unfinished painting to study. The fisherman is a major character in the 1001 Nights...
Please note: 4 sessions, 6-8pm London time
3 January
10 January
17 January
31 January
No class on 24 January
The Levni-inspired fictional Procession of the Guilds continues the TALES masterclass series of characterless characters, our band of everyman figures with a tale to tell and a profession, an occupation or a vice (!) to emblazon on their little bodies which hold big stories.
Borne from a desire to present a truly comprehensive picture of all miniature painting, and emerging from my latest ongoing research into the world of the 1001 Arabian Nights, these classes are like a cabinet of curiosities for miniature painting. The TALES classes comprise 3 strands: Objects and Ingenious Devices, Natural Marvels and Wonders and Characterless Characters.
If, like me, you find stories and marvels irresistible, join me in painting a collection of marvels, wonders, everyday objects, theatrical devices, mechanical ingenuity, strangenesses and curios… in short, THINGS that are in stories and paintings and that are not easily defined as animal, vegetable or mineral. Cooking pots, cups and jugs; tables, takhts and thrones. From flags and bows and arrows and a multitude of tools to clever clocks, musical instruments and astrolabes, we cover them all. Humans have found wonder in the tiniest fleas and the wide open seas and the far flung stars (and now we’re going to Mars). These things are the stuff of stories, the razm o bazm (fight and feast) of the Shahnameh and the magic everyday fabric that is the stock in trade of the Nights.
The other stock in trade of the Nights is of course the people that populate them. Moving from faces to FIGURES: the stock characters, or ‘characterless characters’ as I describe them, are just that: 2D characters that represent an occupation or trade. Gossip and the guilds. People’s jobs define their surnames. The most beautiful of princesses, the basest of slaves. The vilest, the meanest, the cruellest; the most generous, the most princely and the most magnanimous. The most judging of judges and kingliest of kings. The Sailoriest of Sailors and the Merchantiest of Merchants. All clichés are here...
Upcoming Sessions
Dates: 3 January 2024 - 31 January 2024
Total of 5 sessions
Wednesday 3 January, 6pm - 8pm GMT
Wednesday 10 January, 6pm - 8pm GMT
Wednesday, 17 January, 6pm - 8pm GMT
Wednesday, 24 January, 6pm - 8pm GMT
Wednesday, 31 January, 6pm - 8pm GMT