Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Knighting Scroll in the Style of the Crusader Bible (Image Heavy)

When asked to create a scroll for the Order of the Knighthood, it is a rare opportunity so I always jump. This particular piece took the assistance of several individuals to bring to fruition, and I'm blessed to have been part of it.

Countess Gwenevere McKay became my information funnel, telling me all about the recipient (whom I knew from a distance but had never interacted with). It was from her information that details specific to Joel were included in the illumination, including his Crusader persona, the image of him slaying a dragon, and of course his choice in supporters for his achievement of arms.

The text was written by His Highness Prince Sean, and was translated into Latin by Master Drix. There was a hidden message in the text, but it is only evident in the English version, alas. I'll leave that secret between Sean and Joel.

Given Joel's Crusader persona, and his apparent obsessive study of it, the obvious inspiration choice was to base the scroll on the Crusader Bible. Each page has architectural details in the illumination panels. My version was not a direct copy of any specific folio, but an amalgamation of several, keeping to the appropriate style and color schemes.

Crusader Bible, Folio 5v
Crusader Bible, Folio 40r





Illumination features Joel slaying a dragon in the upper left quadrant. In the upper right, we have Their Majesties Timmur and Tianna calling Joel forward to be put on vigil. Joel's lovely Lady, Agnella, is featured here as well.

The lower half of the square is a traditional Crusader Bible inspired action scene, full of far more death and gore than I've ever painted. There are a ton of tiny details, so click the image to zoom in and see the carnage. 




Boring details:

First I blocked out the space needed for the square Crusader Bible illumination. Since the Crusader Bible doesn't have much text on any pages, I wanted the illumination to be very prominent. Making this look like a two page spread was the only way to fit all the necessary text and make this happen. I started on the sketching phase as well, but didn't get far before I started on the calligraphy.

I then laid the full calligraphy down. I considered keeping two columns on the right folio as with the left, but decided against it, as the Crusader Bible has pages with both one and two columns, so I opted for the uniqueness of that format. (This also keeps things easier).

After that was complete, I sketched out all of the illumination in detail, did the gold leaf, then began painting. Below are pics of the progress, from start to finish. As always, click to enlarge.

This piece is done on pergamenata with Pilot Iroshizuko Sumi ink, 24 carat gold leaf, Winsor & Newton gouache, and Finetec micah pigment in gold.




 











 


Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Desdemona

I owe the blogosphere a post regarding the knighthood scroll I did, but this post is a much more quick and easy write, so it comes first.

Many of you know that my dear husband is an audio/video recording artist/producer/engineer. He has been working with a very talented artist, Desdemona, in recording and producing his latest song, Whispers. They then recorded a music video which I assisted with. In working with him, he requested assistance with his band's logo.

He wanted a Capital D done in fancy calligraphy (technical term is cadel). During our conversations, he mentioned that his family coat of arms included several bats, so when I did a mock-up of a design idea, I included a bat as part of the design. Seems that was a win.

The logo was incorporated into the music video with animation.



You can check out the Desdemona Music Video over at his YouTube Channel.

Monday, February 12, 2018

Gryphon and Axe

This Gryphon and Axe piece for Lord Andrew is based on the below German piece found at BibliOdyssey. It is purported to be by Stephan Brechtel but I've been unable to confirm due to dead links and my inability to understand German. I can confirm that There is a Stephan Brechtel that was a calligrapher in Neuremberg in the late 1500's. That said, this is a poorly documented piece, but it was too lovely to not try out. My variation uses primary blue Winsor & Newton gouache and Hematite Rouge ink by J. Herbin on Bristol vellum finish paper.