Miniature Painting - Art In Miniature

Summarized briefly, miniature painting is a form of painting that is deeply rooted in many cultures and spans centuries. The Lathams are a family of American artists practicing it in today's modern art market of galleries and exhibitions. As an artist, Rebecca Latham as well as her mother, Karen, and sister, Bonnie, strive for detail in their painting. Studying with a Flemish master, they have developed their styles for painting extreme realism. Their works, both large and small, are painted "in miniature".

Early Beginnings

Miniature painting is a traditional style of art that is very detailed, often referred to as painting or working "in miniature". Because of their origins as illuminations, they are also painted to have as smooth of a surface as possible. (It is also suggested that miniature art may have been influenced by the medals of ancient Rome as well) Miniature art can be traced back to ancient Egyptian manuscripts on papyrus scrolls. Monks are also often highlighted for their contributions to early miniature painting with their beautifully illuminated manuscripts such as the Celtic Book of Kells and England's Lindisfarne Gospels (both of which measure around 9" x 12"). Some early manuscripts contain miniatures on their pages that depict beautiful arrangements of life sized flower arrangements on their borders. The history of the art is also seen throughout the world in various other cultures.

Miniature painting began out of necessity for illustrating documents and manuscripts to aid those reading them during a time when many were not able to, before printing was invented. The miniature helped to convey the story and meaning of the written word. Therefore, the art of the miniature is directly connected to the book arts. The various sized illuminations (pictures) were cut out of these books or documents so that they could be carried more easily. Later, developing from the carried miniature, portrait miniature artists were commissioned to paint small portraits - paintings that were used as we use wallet sized photographs today. These sizes of miniature paintings became popular with collectors and are often referred to as "hand held miniatures". Portrait miniatures were painted in larger sizes as well, for example master miniaturist, Nicholas Hilliard, Peter Oliver, and Sir Charles William Ross all painted works that were of a larger size.

Sizes

Miniature painting is sometimes confused and assumed that the pieces must be small or depict subjects on a smaller scale to be considered miniature art, though this is not the case. It is helpful to keep in mind that the origins of the term "miniature" have nothing to do with a size. The word miniature comes from the terms 'minium' (used for the red lead paint used in illuminated manuscripts) and 'miniare' (Latin for 'to color with red lead').

Miniature painting is a style and technique of painting, and as such, a wall sized work could be painted "in miniature". Authors of the Yale University Press publication, "The English Miniature" have stated that miniatures have been painted large and some works are even considered to be gigantic. Numerous faculty members of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London confirm that miniature paintings are not restricted to smallness. Larger sized miniature paintings are documented throughout history and are recognized today, though painting larger works in miniature is more difficult and time consuming than a smaller piece if the same attention to detail is observed. Miniature art is also unique in that it was and is often used on objects, such as the Russian lacquer boxes that are beautiful examples of Russian miniatures.

Exhibitions

Today, there are miniature art societies in western society to help promote and preserve traditional miniature art and the "spirit of miniature". Their exhibitions feature the hand held miniature paintings (or sculptures) and each exhibition has its own unique guidelines and rules for artists showing in their exhibit. Some of these rules limit the size of work to be no larger than a set square inch. Others limit the size of a subject, such at the 1/6th scale rule that a subject may not be painted larger than 1/6th of it's natural size, or the 2" rule, that an object in the painting may not exceed 2". Scale rules were initially put in place as a guide for artists starting out in miniature art. There are also many framing restrictions for society miniature works as well. All of these rules are put into place by each show for their own individual and unique exhibitions, and do not define what miniature art is.

Artists painting miniatures throughout history were not restricted in their artwork by scale as their subjects were painted to any measurement or scale that the artist deemed pleasing to the eye and their patrons, for both manuscripts and other miniatures. Subjects that are naturally small in size, such as butterflies and insects, were painted life sized. Thus the 1/6th scale rule that is used by some shows and societies today unfortunately causes a bit of confusion to those new to the art form who commonly assume that is it a part of a mechanical criteria of the miniature's definition. The world's experts in miniatures do not recognize the rule as legitimate, and view those embracing it as unknowledgeable, and dismiss them.

The term "miniature", as it addresses miniature painting, is often confused with "miniaturize" and some miniature art exhibitions do not refer to miniature as it's initial meaning of techniques, but rather the size of the painting (miniaturized painting). They are two very separate descriptions.

Miniature painting is an art form that is very rich in history that continues today by artists from around the globe. The beautiful ornamental qualities of the miniature should be preserved whether it be the intricate large pieces, or intimate hand held works.

The Art of Origami Dragon Modeling

Most of us have probably heard about origami, and some even had a chance of actually trying it. Even those who think they didn't, in fact, they pretty much did. We all have dealt with paper and, especially in our childhood, have been using paper for everything including the alleged primary purpose of writing on the paper. And one of these uses have probably had to do something with paper folding. I don't know many people who didn't fold paper airplanes and frogs when they were kids, and I don't know any kid that does not know how to do. Well, except the really young ones.

How much fun it was to throw those paper airplanes behind our teachers' backs at each other! And what about various airplane folding schemes? We were collecting the best schemes to fold the best airplanes that flew higher, longer, faster. I personally remember how we with a friend of mine were trying to invent new schemes and modify existing ones to make the best paper airplanes competing against each other.

One could say that this paper folding stuff is for kids, and I would agree, but with a subtle adjustment: the fact that paper folding is suitable for kids, does not mean it is only for kids. There are many books about it, there are lots of articles and websites dedicated to them, all of them are probably maintained not by kids, and the target audience of the most of them isn't children as well. There are serious competitions of paper folding, galleries, museums, and a rich history. Sure thing, I am talking about origami. Origami is paper folding, and paper folding is mostly origami.

Origami is a Japanese word which literally means folding paper. The history of origami lies mostly in Japan, and it is one of the traditional Japanese arts. According to Wikipedia, there were developments of independent paper folding in other places like China or Germany, but they were less common. In fact, it does not really matter now, because origami is currently practiced and appreciated everywhere.

The amount of designs is actually astonishing. Who would think that there are so many ways you can fold a sheet of square paper to make it resemble practically everything surrounding our lives, from Eiffel Tower to dragons, and each has lots and lots of variations with different complexity levels and shapes. Today there are many origami types, like compound origami, but generally, the most popular form of origami should be folded from square paper without gluing or cutting anything. Historical records show that in ancient Japan origami practitioners were lax to these rules.

I mentioned dragons earlier. They hold a special place in my heart, especially when they are origami dragons. What is so special about them? Well, they are cool :) They are beautiful, there are many, many different dragons. They are present in almost every culture in some form. They are a mix of cool-blooded dinosaur reptiles and something very ancient, ability to fly, swim and of course breathe fire! They are fascinating. I absolutely love them.

There are lots of good origami dragon designs. Some are very simple, like a variation of a simple origami crane. Some are immensely complex, with hundreds of steps and dozen of hours required to be spent to fold them. Of course, advanced origami dragon requires a special origami paper, and a master who has his hands growing from the right place to fold it correctly. It is, of course, possible to fold a complex origami dragon while having little experience with origami, but the final result might not look that accurate and beautiful like the original design, probably it will resemble it at most. Also, a beginner could end up being lost in instructions, and that it will take him ten times as much to finish the model. And I'm not even mentioning that a beginner will probably use standard paper to fold the origami dragon.

It is important to understand, that it is really possible to achieve the skill of folding required to fold that advanced origami dragon correctly within reasonable time. You just have to start folding, and fold, fold, fold. You will understand all of the nuances in the process, and when you will be ready to fold something really complex and awesome, you will know it. You can start by folding this simple origami dragon. It does not require any special origami paper or origami experience, you can just take a standard printer paper and start folding. Have fun!