Miniature Art

I first got interested in miniature art after visit to the V & A, where they have a grand selection of work from those eras when such art was used for much the same reasons as we might keep a loved one's photo in our wallet or purse.  As an art form it's still going strong with many societies such as the Royal Society of Miniaturists here in the UK. I've done a few over the years.  I've a very large postcard album that takes 480 postcards.  A small ambition is to get it filled if I can...only about 200 pics to go!  Here's one I did today... ...it's 6 x 4 inches on paper, using a pen and coloured pencils. 6 x 4 inches is the maximum size for a painting to be considered a miniature, although REAL miniaturists often  work much smaller and might even consider my pic to be a 'large picture.'  They use paper, vellum, and metals like copper and tin.  Brushes suitable for miniature painting are available, they hold a reasonable amount of paint and come with very fine tips.  It seems ALL the mediums are used...watercolour, gouache, acrylic, oils, pencils and charcoal.  Oh, and yes...a large magnifying lens. I intend to feature modern miniaturists, some of the work seems utterly impossible at such sizes (to me, at least) but it IS done.  So let's have a look at some REAL miniaturist artist's work. The two above are by UK artist Debby Faulkner-Stevens.  They are on vellum, and are 2 x 2 inches in size.  YES...2 x 2 inches!  I'm completely barnswoggled and gob-smacked!  How is it even possible?  A brilliant artist. Two by another UK artist Gina Morton.  3 x 2.5 inches.  Superb! Another fabulous UK artist Joyce Rowsell.  3 x 4.5 inches!! Two pencil miniatures by John Good.  I'm not sure I could get a pencil sharp enough to produce such tiny intricate work. Joyce Rogerson, the frames are traditional for such work.  3 x 2 inches! I find the work inspirational, and when you consider the size, almost unbelievable.  I'm seeing these on my Desktop PC 27 inch screen, where they appear MUCH LARGER than they actually are...and they still look fabulous.

Give it a try Paul.  I can’t do much at this scale, it has to be very simple pen and coloured pencil stuff.  The good thing is they don’t take long even at my current snail’s pace.  There’s such fabulous miniature art out there, I might keep this thread going just because it interests and inspires me.  But in future I’ll keep my own stuff out of it.

Some more fabulous miniature paintings... The two above are by British artist Bill Mundy. These are by British illustrator and miniaturist Eric Kincaid (A little more in my neck of the woods)  Brilliant work. Gina Morton tiny masterpiece. John Good ( 4 x 5 inch). Joyce Rowsell.

It does George, I got some of these images from the Hilliard society website.  I agree about using a magnifier to VIEW them, although I expect you need one to paint them. I saw some of Hilliard’s miniatures at the V & A.  Didn’t need a magnifier to view them.  Little gems.  If I were an art collector, I’d love to have some miniatures. ‘

WOW...what a talented man.  So pleased to see your Dad's work.  I'm impressed by your 2 x 2 inch painting.  I've never been brave enough to attempt that. The smallest miniatures I've done were these two... ...the Monroe is 4 x 4 inches, and the little girl 4 x 3 inches.  These were done some years back before my hands got so wobbly.  Some time after I bought a big photo album that takes postcard size pics.  Since that all my miniatures have been 6 x 4 inch.   Yours is TINY compared to these!  Impressed!