Dream Girls, with Indian and Persian roots.
Inspired by Rajput Master Bannu, I painted this lavish vision in the early 2000s. My style and spheres of interest have changed since that time, because being an artist is a journey. But… Continue reading
Category Archive: pigments
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Painting Indian Style
Learning from Bannu in the 1990s provided me with a great deal of insight when looking at historical paintings in museum collections, both in terms of how they were painted, and the pigments… Continue reading
My Story: Learning Painting from a Rajput Master
Back in the 1990s, I had the privilege of being able to watch and learn from an hereditary master painter in Jaipur. The late Ved Pal Sharma, known as Bannu, was unique, in… Continue reading
Exhibiting Manuscripts for a Prince of the Black Sheep at Oxford
I have curated a display of 15th century illuminated manuscripts at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, which will be open free to the public until the 13th January 2018. It is called “Making Manuscripts… Continue reading
Researching precious manuscripts at the Bodleian Library, Oxford
For the past six months I have been engaged in a Fellowship at the Bodleian Library’s Centre for the Study of the Book, University of Oxford. I have been researching a stunning group… Continue reading
The Book of Gold – an e-book available for sale
Over the years I have run a lot of professional development workshops with artists, craftspeople, conservators and academics who wanted to learn the secrets of making finely ground gold pigments, such as was… Continue reading
Farewell to Woburn Walk: Open Studio Sale Weekend
To all friends old and new, and the wonderful people who have enjoyed this vibrant space with me over the years – It’s time to say farewell to my beautiful Bloomsbury studio in… Continue reading
Preparing Shell Gold
Originally posted on The Book & Paper Gathering:
A guest post by Anita Chowdry My last few workshops on shell gold have been particularly rewarding as my participants have all been up for…
British Library Seminar with Barbara Brend
Painting and Illumination in Persian and Mughal Books: An exclusive look at Manuscripts in the British Library with Dr Barbara Brend 4 June 2015, 10.00 am – 5.30 pm Cost: £135 Sold Out… Continue reading
How to paint with 24 carat shell gold
As I periodically offer practical courses on how to make 24 carat “shell gold” pigment, I feel it might be useful to cover some of the applications of this marvellous pigment. The next… Continue reading
John Brewer’s Wet-plate Photography Workshop
I have always been fascinated by early photographs taken during the pioneering years in the nineteenth century… the images are so mysterious and beautiful – literally memories of a moment held in captured… Continue reading
Pliny the Elder on metals, and a warning from the first century
My abiding interest in pigments and their sources has always been a catalyst for a much wider scope of interest, and in the raft of very human impulses that have shaped the history… Continue reading
A Journey with Lapis Lazuli Pigment
Just look at that – a beautiful precious Blue, its subtle variety of shades and striations, shot through with streaks of calcite and glittering iron pyrites, describing some imaginary landscape. It is the… Continue reading
YEATS’ BALCONY
Originally posted on POETOPOGRAPHY:
Last night after attending the private view of BEYOND FAIRYTALES at the Hardy Tree Gallery, I took my girlfriend Julie and my friend David to see Yeats’ flat at…
Precious Pigments and Gold with staff from the Bodleian Library
I had the privilege of hosting at my studio a small group of staff who take care of precious historical manuscripts at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. They came to examine and… Continue reading
Invitation to subscribe to my mailing list
This is an invitation to all my lovely online friends, followers, fellow-artists, brilliant people and supporters to subscribe to my new mailing list at “MailChimp”. MailChimp is a bona fide e-mail marketing company… Continue reading
More than the Colour Red at Visions of Enchantment, Cambridge University
On the 17th March I gave a paper called More than the Colour Red: The unspoken symbolism of cinnabar pigment in Indian painting at a fascinating conference hosted at the University of Cambridge,… Continue reading
Strange Creatures in the Margins
As I briefly mentioned the art of marginal design as one of the arts of Islamic manuscript production in my previous post, I thought I would share a few details from a very… Continue reading
Working with a Calligrapher in Cairo
Examining and re-creating an historical manuscript page is one of the best ways to understand the processes that went into its making, and one that I have employed several times in the course… Continue reading
Preserving treasures in Cairo’s National Library and Archives
Update 23 Feb 2014: Thankfully the conservation staff at the National Library and Archives and the team at Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation have managed to save all the manuscripts that were on display, though… Continue reading
Elephants in the British Library
A group of second year students on the M.A. Art & Science course at Central Saint Martins, including myself, plus course director Nathan Cohen and our tutor Eleanor Crook, have mounted a group… Continue reading
Making simple grounds for silverpoint drawing
Silverpoint drawing requires a specially prepared ground because the silverpoint will not make a mark on ordinary paper. Preparing the ground can be a complicated business, and I shall be adding some posts… Continue reading
Getting started with Silverpoint Drawing
This silverpoint drawing is by Leonardo da Vinci, in the British Museum collection. It is called ‘Bust of a warrior in profile’ , dated 1475-80, © The Trustees of the British Museum. It… Continue reading
The Colour Red
My Name is Red is a novel by the celebrated Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. It is a memorable read – a beautifully constructed ‘whodunnit’ set in the visionary world of the miniature painters… Continue reading
A Mughal Masterpiece at The British Museum
This painting is called “The assembled animals complain to the raven of their mistreatment at the hands of man” British Museum catalogue number 1920.0917.05 , an illustration to one of the animal fables… Continue reading
Indigo dyed paper
As an experiment, I included dyeing paper with indigo as one of the activities in the Persian and Indian manuscript painting workshop this month. With only two (highly sophisticated) people, it seemed a… Continue reading
Workshop – Pigments for Manuscript painting
Barbara Brend’s seminar on painting and illumination in Persian and Indian books on 1 November 2011 was followed by workshops about pigments and techniques at my studio. The picture above shows some of… Continue reading
The Alchemy of Pure Gold Pigment
I spent the weekend in my Woburn Walk studio making another batch of 24 carat gold pigment. It was used historically by painter and illuminators both in the Western world and in the… Continue reading
Pigment hunting on Hampstead Heath
How about spending the first day of May on Hampstead Heath hunting for pigment? There is something rather primeaval about that – the sort of activity some neolithic cave painter might have engaged… Continue reading