Service Description

TALES OF THE MARVELLOUS AND NEWS OF THE STRANGE CLASSES ‘Aja’ib wa-Ghara’ib Natural Marvels and Oddities: Natural magic and correspondences Paint scenes from the Wonders of Creation. Frog men, dog-head people, Sindbad carrying the Old Man of the Sea by piggyback, people split in half down the middle, snakes with human heads, tortoises with human heads, more avian humanoids, jolly people with no necks, people with several legs, what looks like a cross between sperm and a squirmy Surinam toad (look them up, I dare you) ticks, fleas, lice, locusts, crickets, worms and a hedgehog (we covered porcupines in a previous class). Marco Polo and John Mandeville wrote about some similar strange people. In January we set off to the wondrous islands that these writers described and now we close the circle with the wonders within. 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: Characterless Characters, Objects and Ingenious Devices and our final strand - Natural Marvels and Wonders. If, like me, you find stories and marvels irresistible, join me in painting a collection of marvels and wonders. We have covered the Vegetal and the Mineral - it’s time to address the Animal. 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 many varied and countless aspects of the world that was Shahrazad’s master plan: show them all to Shahriyar and present a picture of all life to him so he sees the nuances and not only the extremes, and comes to completion through her stories.