Fish and the Medieval Bestiary

There is so much to discover today! I know so little about medieval art and there is so much to see. I have just discovered the existence of the Medieval Bestiary - a compendium of beasts.The Bestiary illustrated animals, birds and even rocks, usually accompanied by a moral lesson (per Wikipedia).

Alongside this I have found and only very much skimmed the surface of the British Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts and Kitab Aja'ib Al-Makhluqat Wa Gharaib Al-Mawjudat literally "The Wonders of Creation and the Curiosities of Existence" here. See below one of the pieces by the author, Abu Yahya Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud-al-Qazwini (ca. 1203-1283 CE), known as al-Qazwini.

These discoveries have resulted from my research on medieval fish images today. I am beginning to wonder if this burgeoning obsession with fish and boats derives from my surname Fisher and my peasant ancestry. Maybe I am trying to on some level trace my roots. I also came across this image and article A peasant is a peasant, is a peasant? : Medieval Maritime Peasant Lives on www.medievalists.net sourced from the paper by Maryanne Kowaleski, Professor of History and Medieval Studies at Fordham University.

To end today's blog, I have put a bit of a tongue-in-cheek humour from The Toast where two medieval monks invent bestiaries...

MONK #1: ugh sorry to bother you again

MONK #2: no no its fine

this is what i’m here for

what is it

MONK #1: what part of a goat is a snail again

like the front end or the back end

MONK #2: what part do you feel like should be the snail part

MONK #1: the back part?

MONK #2: you shouldnt doubt yourself

you know more about goats than you give yourself credit for

Stormy medieval boats

Duccio di Buoninsegna [1308-1311] Jesus calling Simon Peter and Andrew

Currently, the painting I am working on is a bit of a disaster. It seemed to be going okay until I kept working on the robin in the foreground, only to have it end up looking comical. After a while, I figured it was the wrong bird. Frustrated, I changed the bird. The bird still looks a bit comical but it's singing or is it singing a warning? This has changed the painting from me thinking about holding on in a difficult place to actually one of pushing out to help others in disaster. This seems a bit strange but if it is what the painting wants, I'll do my best to do it. 

Boats and stormy weather brings to my mind Jesus walking on the water towards his disciples. Together with my love of medieval art, this has led me to investigate images of medieval boats today. One article I read this morning in The pelican papers, had a humorous bit of text about Peter, the Rock or "Rocky" for short.  Peter takes a few steps walking on water to meet Jesus. Frightened by the wind and sinking into the waves, Rocky calls for help. Jesus pulls him out of the drink. And then, 

"What's the matter, O faithless one? Jesus says with a grin. Scared of a little wind, a big old fisherman like you? Why did you doubt?".

Ah, the eternal question from a God who likes to act in unfathomable ways. Why did you doubt? 

Well, these images here have given me a start to how I can work a medieval type boat into my painting. I thought I'd share the images with you so you can enjoy them like I have. I found the names difficult to trace on some, so I am sorry if there is no attribution to the original artist. I also highly recommend checking out the medieval ship models made by Tucho Fernandez Calo, which can be seen on his website. 

Jesus and Peter walking on water

Botticelli Reimagined

A very quick blog to say I was in London last weekend and fortunately got to see the Botticelli Reimagined exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum (5 March 2016-3 July 2016).

I cannot express how chuffed I was that Botticelli's Pallas and the centaur was on display and that, yes, very excitingly, it was tempera on canvas! Ha, and this work dates from 1482-1485! It did appear well protected with varnish. More information on the painting here.

Sandro Botticelli (circa 1482-85), Pallas and the centaur [Tempera on canvas]

Also, very pleasing was to discover an amazing artist, Evelyn De Morgan. Her work was so finely done and I felt with such understanding of the female form and mind. I don't usually like nude paintings, but De Morgan's Cadmus and Harmonia was wonderful. The way the snake, Cadmus, wrapped around Harmonia was incredible. Reluctantly, I had to drag myself away from the painting in order to let others see it. I also liked the way De Morgan painted flowers and birds in the paintings on display. I am quite desperate to get her book and in fact have just ordered it online (even though I probably really shouldn't spend the money!), but it is a limited edition and I don't want to miss out. Here is the link to the The De Morgan Foundation.

Evelyn De Morgan (1877), Cadmus and Harmonia, Oil on canvas 

Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book IV, 563-603):

With lambent tongue he kissed her patient face,

Crept in her bosom as his dwelling place

Entwined her neck, and shared the loved embrace.

Other exhibitions I perused while in London were Sculpture in the Garden (Pangolin London 13 May 2016-9 July 2016). I particularly liked the Lynn Chadwick and Ann Christopher works. 

There was also a fabulous exhibition of Quentin Blake (I love his drawings!) and Shojo Manga: Japanese Girls' Comics in the House of Illustration. Really cheap ticket to see both as well.

Okay, well I must go work on my own silverpoint drawing and get to the ECA degree show this afternoon. 

Bugs and Rabbits

K Fisher (2016) You have been and will bee [Silverpoint, 20 x 20 cm]

Listening to Sufjan Stevens at the moment. It's taken me 2 and half hours to make my own gesso (first time!) and apply it to my canvas. I mixed refined linseed oil with it, a half oil ground, in the hope that it will provide a more flexible support for my egg tempera. I keep reading that you shouldn't use canvas for egg tempera as it is too brittle and inflexible, and therefore wood is the best support. As usual, I am stubborn and don't like taking no for an answer. The other alternative suggested was to use canvas on wood, which I have done before, but then speaking to a framer friend of mine, he said, if I keep adding wood to wood, it's just going to get heavier and the point is that a picture should be light. Sigh. Okay, well I should know in the next two weeks if I did the gesso wrong and it cracks. I'm also not sure that it might have little pinholes in it from bubbles in the gesso. 

I was speaking with my niece this morning and she's been drawing pictures of the characters in the Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. She told me I could find it on youtube, so I watched an episode just now. It's kinda cool. I like the fact that the boy in it is the Cat superhero wearing a skin tight cat suit, instead of the usual catwoman. Here's a link Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir

And the rabbits, well that's the rabbit skin glue. Poor rabbit - why isn't there a vegetarian glue solution!

Two Traditions of Icon Painting

 K Fisher (2016) Mary - Western tradition
  (original fragment of icon by Segna di Bonaventura in the beginning of 14th century and kept in Honolulu Museum of Art)

Before I start to tell you about the Icon Painting course, I wanted to share that my web page on the Society of Scottish Artists is now up and running. You can find it at My SSA Web Page. I hope to update the images during the year as I finish new work. I am quite excited to have another online space.

Part of my plan for this year is to gain more knowledge and experience in the art of egg tempera painting, including different methods to protect and or varnish my work. I was very fortunate in January to attend an icon painting course in Melbourne Australia with Philip Davydov and Olga Shalamova, who are iconographers in Saint Petersburg. Their web page can be found here Sacred Murals Studio.

The course was 5 days long and even better than I had expected. I knew nothing about iconography when I started and felt I had a good grasp of what icons were about and the traditions behind them by the end of the week. I learnt that icons are a focus for prayer and meditation and that while the figures and scenes should be recognisable and painted with love and skill, they should also be abstract enough and not too flashy so as not to detract the focus from prayer. 

The course was logically set out and made more energetic and interesting by swapping between demonstration, painting and lectures in the exhibition space, where the current exhibition included icons painted by Philip and Olga. Both artists were great tutors, being very patient and encouraging and happy to answer the questions I had about their own work and practice.

K Fisher (2016) Looking at classical proportions of face

K Fisher (2016) Drawing in Ochre and Water

K Fisher (2016) Mixing flesh tone using mortar, pestle and egg yolk

K Fisher (2016) Painting tools and pigments

K Fisher (2016) Finalising drawing before green layer

K Fisher (2016) Mary - Eastern (Byzantine) Tradition  (original fragment of icon by anonymous iconographer of the Eastern Orthdox church in last two thirds of 13th century from Chilander Monastery (Mount Athos in Greece))
 

 K Fisher (2016) Mary - Western tradition
  (original fragment of icon by Segna di Bonaventura in the beginning of 14th century and kept in Honolulu Museum of Art)

Street Art - Fitzroy, Melbourne

Just over a week ago I attended a week long icon painting workshop in Fitzroy, Melbourne at the Australian Catholic University on Brunswick Street. I will post more about the course later (which was brilliant I might add!), but for now I wanted to share some of the fantastic street art I came across during one of my lunch time walks. Enjoy!

Silverpoint

I have finally arrived back in Perth, Australia for 2 months after much ado. It's a bit of an adjustment coming from pitch black in the mornings in Scotland to sunshine coming in the window at 4.30am. The weather was perfect the day I arrived - a breezy 27 degrees. Things are now warming up to what they usually are about this time of year. Hot! I've been having a nice time seeing family and watching Tudor Monastery Farm during the day and detective shows in the evening with my parents. I think I may be beginning to become annoying as I imitate Inspector Montalbano's Italian accent and gestures and use the same Mr Fartone joke again and again!

The past few months have been busy with other work so I have only been managing to get into the studio for a few hours each week. Below is my first experiment with silverpoint on a gesso wood panel. I tried shaving coloured pastels and then painting them on lightly. I had to rub most of it off as even a little colour was quite overwhelming. Little did I know I would also rub off half the silverpoint! I kept reading how silverpoint was very difficult to remove once on. So either I didn't apply the ground properly, which I have remedied for the next piece, or it is in fact possible to remove silverpoint and adjust as I go.

K Fisher (2015) Parable Silverpoint on Gesso panel [8" x 8"]