Service Description

TALES: Ingenious Devices Likely the last of the ingenious devices - a potluck end of year celebration of miscellaneous and interesting items: triangular domes, floppy domes, an arch made by elephants, colourful steps, a solid fortress, a woman carrying a cow up a ladder (from the Haft Paykar), an island float, a ship with wheels, vases and a setar. A last glance at some amazing objects here and a hodgepodge of human-made things as we look forward to the final TALES series: Natural Marvels and Oddities (including lots of animals) in the new year. 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.