PAPER DYEING The other day I was preparing some fresh beetroot in order to make beetroot and orange soup. Rather than throwing the trimmings away, I boiled them for half an hour in water, and ended up with some gorgeous red juice. I put this in an old spray bottle to use for…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - COMPLETING THE PROJECT This particular Arabesque motif is called a shamsa. Etymology I am fascinated by the origins and relationships of words, and looked up the etymology of shamsa. This immediately rang a bell with me, because of its similarity to the Hebrew word shemesh, meaning "sun."Â …
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - WORKING ON THE FINAL DRAWING Inking over the transfer After I had transferred the tracing of the drawing onto the watercolour paper, it all looked rather messy. It was hard to see the detail which was quite confusing. To tidy things up, I decided to go over…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - TRANSFERRING THE DESIGN Following yesterday's session in the studio where I created the first version of some design tracings, I had time to think about how it was working out. I realised I wasn't happy with it, and decided to start the tracings again with a different…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - TRACING AND BIOMORPHS I have skipped the final task in the previous unit because of time constraints. I've had a busy week, and I want to take advantage of the afternoon daylight in the studio for drawing, and not waste it sitting at the laptop in the…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - BIOMORPHICS AND GRIDS Looking for botanical patterns Continuing with the preparation stages of this course, Esra, our teacher, instructed us to find patterns featuring organic motifs, and to sketch a single motif. She suggested going to a museum to find things to sketch, but this wasn't possible…
DOMESTIKA COURSE - ISLAMIC ART - CONTINUING WITH INK PRACTICE Esra, our teacher, suggests we practise daily with the brush and ink. It's a question of training one's hand and eye and brain to get used to this unfamiliar technique until one perfects it. It is difficult! However, several days in, I think…
NEW BOOKS Today Amazon delivered some new books for me. I have long been fascinated by the little brown "Wooden Books" on a variety of subjects, mostly esoteric. A lot of people complain about the format of these books, saying they are too small and the diagrams are hard to understand at this…
BEGINNING A NEW DOMESTIKA COURSE - INTRODUCTION TO ISLAMIC ART At the beginning of this month, I began a new Domestika course. This one (full title: "Introduction to Islamic Art - Creating Biomorphic Patterns") seemed a natural follow-on from the mandala drawing course. Lots of pattern, repeated elements and so on. I am…
A VISIT TO THE HOUSE OF MARBLES Yesterday we met up with some friends and had lunch together at the House of Marbles. We first met them there many years ago on a pre-Christmas visit. We had to queue for a table in the restaurant because the place was so busy. While we…
