Another scroll assignment! This one was a challenge as I didn’t know much about the recipient. However, when you find a manuscript with archery in it for an archery award, you don’t worry too much.
To make a more cohesive image I stitched together several pages to make a new image with two archers. Like always I started with the calligraphy before adding the illumination. Unlike others, I decided to copy the original by starting different lines with a red capital. This gave me the challenge of having to plan more of the calligraphy and make good and sure I had my space correct. I also managed to salvage nearly messing up the King’s name. It was at this point I ran and printed a clear copy of the text as reading it via my light board wasn’t cutting it
The color on this one was tedious. One thing I tend to do is work my paint more like watercolor as it can and has dried before it hits the page. This made the purple background a headache as I hadn’t mastered an even wash. There were lots of added layers, being frustrated and vowed to buy purple as soon as I could.
The red capes I did enjoy as I had made a gold red paint in my mixing for the pink. While it didn’t work out for the piece I had done it for it added the extra for this piece. As it doesn’t photograph well, it is a lighter red flecked with gold. A far better in-the-sun paint for sure.
The H was fussy. I had to invent an H as there was not one in the original text. But nothing a little mirroring and copying of other letters couldn’t fix.
The final came out ok, but not as I had pictured it. Mostly due to the purple, however, I see it more as a turning point for my work. Prior I was used to doing just the illumination, often in one go. As I looked back at the photos I realized this spanned several weeks of work; a far more sustainable pace of production.
