Master of Defense Scroll

Several months ago, the lovely and talented Bethany of Windermere asked me to collaborate with her on one of Artemisia's Master of Defense premiers. The obvious answer was of course YES!

I was told that he wanted the piece to be based on this "Fechtbook." I'm afraid I know nothing about its source, so I just used this image when it came to doing the calligraphy.

I very quickly learned how incredibly a Roman hand is - Be it Trajan or New Roman. Everything must be uniform, straight, and clean. And all those serifs? They are a blasted nightmare. I don't think I've ever struggled with a hand the way I struggled to emanate this piece. Suffice it to say that I never got it quite to my preferred level of quality, but got it to a point that I hoped I wouldn't embarrass myself.

I actually like that the u's are v's, even though it can make reading it a bit difficult at times.

When I completed the calligraphy and decorative cadel swashy doodad (my favorite part of the piece), I passed it back to Bethany, who unfortunately had an explosion of life. She passed the piece over to the lovely Adele Blanked / Adeliz Fergusson who did the illumination.