Letter to Objectivity and to The Royal Society
Painted in ink and watercolour on paper (30×40 cm.)
The red paint is natural cinnabar (vermilion), and the panorama of Acre is painted using natural orpiment among other paint.

made by the request from Objectivity’s 300th episode;
featured in Objectivity’s episode 303 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiwlpI7fx4E

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🎨 Patreon-only high-res scan: https://www.patreon.com/posts/148812626/
🖼️ Etsy with other paintings: https://procyonity.etsy.com
☕ Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/vokabre

Mirrors with art uploads:
📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DTy5h6DiFZe/
🦋 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/procyonity.bsky.social/post/3mcy3pihb3c27
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/Procyonity/status/2014156392194519289
🇯🇵 Pixiv: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/140234224

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usually the full story is only available for patrons, but this time, I’m sharing it for everyone https://www.patreon.com/posts/148812620

This all was quite unusual. For many years I’ve been watching the series “Objectivity” by Brady Haran and co., this project of his follows his previous series I too was watching for years, “Periodic Videos”, “Sixty Symbols”, “Computerphile”, but “Objectivity” I happened to be watching almost from the beginning.

That series investigates objects, mostly focusing on the archive of the famed British Royal Society, but sometimes venturing to other places, and out of all the series it’s perhaps my personal favourite. Since I watch videos by downloading them and thus don’t add to ad revenue I even subscribed as a patron early.

In their 300th video, Brady Haran with the videographer and the head librarian Keith Moore were investigating letters sent to The Royal Society, and that video included a challenge for others to make and send something their way. I was immediately hooked with the idea.

Later that day I had a text written, the initial thought was to write all with the brush, using black ink for the main text, orpiment for the introductory quote, and cinnabar for the title. I finished that piece, but it looked bland, so I tore it down and went for Argaman beach of Acre.

There, I took photographs of the sunrise over the city, and returned to once again make the letter. This time, I used black ink for the lines to fill the title, the quote I wrote using a yellow pen, and the text was written with the black Faber Castell pen.

Prior to writing the text I’ve added the lines for the panorama of the city, which then was painted, so as the title. The panorama utilized orpiment, and the title was painted with cinnabar. I later added the “white gloves of destiny”, and the photos of brushes in the original size.

The brushes were toned using dilluted ink, and then the larger one was also painted with natural Chilean Lapis Lazuli. The brush on top is the one I’ve been using for the lines for a long time, it is small size tanuki brush from Kyukyodo shop in Tokyo.

The larger brush is unusual for it is metal, it is Namura Taisei brush of S size that I bought in Sekaido art shop in Tokyo. The paper for the piece is Hahnemühle anniversary edition, 425 g/m^2. The painting was covered with Talens 680 fixative.

The title I signed in Hebrew, Arabic, English, Russian, Esperanto, Ukrainian, French and Japanese, while the date below is signed in Hebrew calendar in Hebrew and in Hijri (Islamic) calendar in Arabic, highlighting the multicultural nature of Israel and Acre.

The envelope I signed as per usual using a cheapy red marker, adding Welsh to the “usual” assortment of languages saying “do not bend” (English, French, Hebrew, Arabic, German, Polish, Russian when mailing from Israel to Europe).

That I do with mailing artworks, and while i had frames broken and corners chipped, never there was a “proper” bend, which I in part attribute to the local postmen catching attention to the writing, perhaps in their own or familiar language.

The piece was sent using airmail, and then I totally expected it to go nowhere, but it apparently ended up on the episode 303, and then stored away in the archives of the Royal Society, a fate for an artwork I never hoped to ever achieve in my life.

The full text:

Greetings and congratulations (written in Hebrew, Arabic, English, Russian, Esperanto, Ukrainian, French, Japanese)

“One who has instructed another in any subject, and has improved other’s knowledge, may in like manner be regarded as the parent of the person taught”
Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides), The Guide for the Perplexed
(written in English and Hebrew)

To the team and participants of Objectivity series, including
Brady John Haran OAM, Video and Podcast Person
James Hennessy, Videographer
Keith Moore, Head of Library and Information Services, The Royal Society
Rupert Baker, Library Manager, The Royal Society

I humbly allow myself to express my sincere congratulations for successful long-standing efforts of the project to inform, educate and entertain us, diverse strangers from different corners of the globe,
and to express my gratitude as we find excitement and knowledge in Objectivity videos, be it in good times, or in the times of war, exile, and depression, and as we find a window to The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge even if we might be barred for different reasons from physically visiting the The Royal Society.

Shall this unexpected letter, requested by the latest instalment of Objectivity, be a wish to see the project continue and be ready to film the events surrounding the quatercentenary of The Royal Society.

Your humble patron, Michael (Vokabre) Shahar, Traditional Artist

Acre, Israel, November 9 2025 (written in English, Arabic, Hebrew calendars)