Gwenllyan’s Laurel

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Although the words “Visconti Hours” often bring forth swirling images of hot pink hosts of angels and poison green architectural towers, there are many individual pages that are quite lovely and less… colorful than other parts of the text. When presented with the choice of insane color combinations or demure and pretty, Finneadan and I decided that we would both prefer something more mild. This is how we picked the page to use for Gwenllyan verch Morgan’s Laurel Scroll.

Mistress Finneadan sketched up the page and I painted, gilded and calligraphed. The text was written by Master Iefan. In this we were able to include both of Gwenllyan’s Laurels and also her former apprentice sister.

The devil was in the details and the tiny castles and buildings really took up the most time as far as the painting was concerned. We reduced the size of the initial so that we had a place for the text to be written. There are various symbols that have been tucked into the trees and foliage so that various other apprentice siblings could be included. A chrysalis and emerging butterfly signify Gwenllyan’s transformation and also serve as an inside reference to my household, Feileacan Ghairdin, Gaelic for ‘butterfly garden’.

Executed on pergamenata using watercolor gouache, ink and 24k gold leaf. Time breakdown: I think Finneadan spent about 3-4 hours in sketch. I put about an hour or two into gilding and about another 18-20 hours in painting.

Richard Clitherow’s Pelican

Award: Order of the Pelican

Recipient: Master Richard Clitherow of Marcaster

Kingdom: Trimaris

Inspiration Source: Tres Petites Heures d’Anne de Bretagne

Time: 40-ish hours

Text: Written by Master Octavio de Flores

Receive these words of Lorcan and Grainne, newly crowned King and Queen of Trimaris and Cry these tidings known throughout the land:

Upon Our celebration of the founding of the Kingdom of Trimaris twenty-five years ago, it gives us great pleasure to acknowledge a Gentleman of our Realm, Richard Clitherow.

He Stands with Humility, Leads with Service, Defies Tyranny with a Smile, and Challenges Complacency with Courage. His Worth is beyond measure and His Integrity is beyond Question.

And So it Our Right and Privilege to accept the many recommendations proffered, affirming the will of the people of Trimaris, and Grant him this day a Patent of Arms as a member of the Order of the Pelican. Witness Our hand and Seal on this 4th day of September, a.s. XLV

Lorcan, King

Grainne, Queen

About this piece: Richard is a wonderful gentleman and I very much agonized over something that would suit him just so. His colors are blue and gold so I  started by searching for something that heavily used those colors. I came across the Tres Petites Heures d’Anne de Bretagne which is a tiny volume of lovely and understated illumination that seemed just right for this project.

The miniatures were changed entirely and only the blue border with gold acanthus leaves and the gold boarder with architecture are derived from the original page. The major illumination of a bridge hung with pennants is taken from Master Richard’s favorite poem, The Bridge Builder. The bridge is hung with pennants that include the arms of Don Alain, Richard Clitherow and Mistress Columella. A Pelican in its piety has been included in the gold architectural border and several triskeles were incorporated into the design.

Special thanks to Mistress Finneadan who added some of her immense drawing skill to this task. What she does in moments can often take me several agonizing hours. Finneadan created the base drawing for the bridge miniature based on some designs I sketched on scrap paper.

About the Original: Anne of Brittany was Duchess of Brittany and was Queen to two successive French Kings, Charles VIII and Louis XII. Anne was one of the richest women in Europe and commissioned many fine manuscripts for herself and for her children.

• Les Grandes Heures d'Anne de Bretagne: Executed by Jean Bourdichon between 1503 and 1508.
• Petites heures d'Anne de Bretagne: Executed by Jean Poyer 
• Tres Petites Heures d’Anne de Bretagne: Executed by the Master of the Très Petites Heures d'Anne de Bretagne
• Prayer Book of Anne of Brittany: Executed by Jean Poyer  and commisssioned by Anne Of Brittany to teach her son Charles Orlando, Dauphin of France, his catechism. The child died of measles around the time the book was completed.
• The Prayer Book of Claude de France: Executed by Master of Claude de France.
• The Gradual of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany

Little violets

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Award: Golden Galleon

Recipient: Finnguala inghean Alister

Inspiration: Prayer Book of Michelino da Besozzo (Folio 6)

Finnguala is my apprentice and I learned that she is fond of violets which made choosing a subject for illumination quite easy. The Prayer Book of Michelino da Besozzo is a great source for simple yet elegant floral borders that are often complimented by nice clean lines of gilding. The calligraphy was executed by Queen Grainne of Trimaris but I have no photos of the page after completion.

Three Lilies

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Award: Augmentation of Arms
Recipient: Mistress Stephanie of Nethyrwode
Kingdom: Meridies
Source: Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta
Commissioned by: TRM Thomas and Elisanda
Time: 30-ish hours

Text: Behold this fair gentle who among all good nobles of Our Society has proven herself to be a paragon of those ideals we hold dear.  She is a beacon to those in need of inspiration and guidance and a pillar upon which Our beloved Kingdom depends.  Her service and dedication know no bounds; having enriched not only Our Kingdom, but our Society as a whole.  In Our eyes she stands  an ideal peer whose sacrifices do not go unnoticed, nor will we permit them to go  unrewarded.  So that all may know that we hold Stephanie of Nethyrwode in the highest esteem, We, Thomas and Elisenda, King and Queen of the Laurel Kingdom of Meridies  bestow upon you a token of Our respect and admiration.  From this day henceforth, we charge you to augment your personal arms with the Meridian Augmentation of three mullets in chevron argent.   Thus is confirmed your sole right and privilege to bear the arms describe by this heraldic blazon: Sable, a dragon's head erased, on a chief engrailed erminois three lilies azure, for augmentation on a canton sable three mullets one and two argent.  Proclaimed with Our voice and done by our hand and seal this 11th day of September, Anno Societatis XLV, being 2010 by the Common Reckoning. (Written by Thomas and Elisenda)

Mistress Stephanie’s arms included three lilies, so I included three from the Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta: Lily of the valley (top), Orange lily (bottom left) and a Madonna lily (bottom right). The text is fairly long but I still had to add some text at the end to complete the knot work design.

How to Write in Knots

Step one: Draw the interlace and flora: Although the text looks like it would make you crazy, it is actually easier than one  would think. First I lay out the knot work and produce a top and bottom line in pencil to use as guides for the calligraphy. In that design I verify all of the knot work over and under passes.

Step two: Text layout: Later I pencil in all of the text to make sure I have enough or not too much space. This also keeps misspellings to a minimum. and

Step three: Get the ink and the whiskey: I did the calligraphy this piece in one sitting, stopping to do a shot of whiskey when I hit the very tight knots at the N, E, S, and W compass points of the interlacing.

Step four: Get sober and then paint: After completing the calligraphy I came back through an painted the lilies. I finished the gilding last on this piece because I knew it would take the least time. Also, after everything the gilding actually seemed nice and easy.

Step five: Walk away: Slap that page in a frame and walk the hell away before your make yourself crazy with what you could have done better.

A Wedding Blessing

I completed this Wedding Blessing for a friend who wanted just the right gift for her brother’s wedding. Her brother and his fiancée love the outdoors and hike often. Thus Jill chose blackberries and pine needles to represent the simple beauty of the woods, a poppy in honor of their home state of California and a Buckeye Butterfly in honor of her brother’s favorite team of Ohio State.

The Buckeye Butterfly is based upon a photo taken by the lady who commissioned this page. The poppy and blackberry are based upon images from the Mira calligraphiae monumenta. The pine needles are modeled after needles from a tree on my street with a nicely low hanging branch.

Calligraphy is done in a Carolingian Miniscule with brown Windsor Newton ink to continue with the natural feel of the piece. 

Known also as the Apache Blessing, here is the text of the poem:

“Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be the shelter for each other.

Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be the warmth for the other.

Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before.

Go now to your dwelling place to enter into the days of your life together.

And may your days be good and long upon the earth.”

Grainne’s Pelican

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Award: Pelican

Recipient: Grainne ingen Anlon meic Cerbhaill

Materials: watercolor gouache, various period pigments, pergamenata, gold leaf, gold ink, ink

Total work time: 35 hours

Painting Assistance: Lady Bryna of Kildare

Calligraphy and Illumination: Maol Mide

Based upon the peacock border pages [ff.97v-98] from the Hours of Englebert of Nassau by the Master of Mary of Burgundy.  The major illumination of the Annunciation was removed from folio 97v. and the smaller illumination was moved from folio 98 and adapted for the left hand side of the scroll. The piece was adapted by changing the coloration of the female figure to match that of the recipient, my friend Grainne. Also the castle in the background of the original was replaced with a building modeled after the main hall at Camp Indian Springs, the campsite where Grainne’s local group traditionally holds their events.

Grainne’s device includes a peacock so this border seemed the perfect match for her Pelican scroll. She specifically asked for something small in size so the full page as just smaller than the opening in a 8.5x11 inch viewable frame and mat.

Lady Bryna did a grat deal of the underpainting in the peacock feathers and her awesome help gave my hand a very needed rest.

Fernando's Knighting Scroll

Award: KSCA

Recipient: Sir Fernando de Valecia de la Rosa

Materials: watercolor gouache, various period pigments, pergamenata, gold leaf, ink

Total work time: 35 hours

Drafting: HL Gwenhwfyr ber Cain

Painting: HL Melangell merch Marriot

Calligraphy and Illumination: Maol Mide

The major illumination is based upon the early Spanish manuscript Beatus of San Millan, folio 92 "Adoration of the Lamb". The page is an illustration of John's vision of the Lord enthroned in the guise of a Lamb surrounded by the Gospelers and elders from chapter 4 of the Apocalypse. The central figure of the Lamb of God was removed and replaced by an illumination of a triumphant Christian warrior adapted from the Gerona Beatus of 975 folio 134 verso.

The figure of the warrior has been redressed in green, white and black which are the heraldic colors of the recipient. To add some symbols of knighthood, the innermost white circle has an added amulet of gold chain and the outermost white circle has been adapted into a white belt tipped with the recipient's heraldry.

The script is adapted from several examples of insular minuscule from the same period.

Argent Palm for Meara

Award: Argent Palm

Recipient: Meara

Size: 4in x 6in

Materials: watercolor gouache, bristol board, faux gold leaf, ink

Total work time: 6 hours

Last week I had the privledge of creating a scroll for my SCA niece, Meara. This young lady has a quick wit and a taste for gothy things. As this was her first SCA award, an Argent Palm, I wanted to make it special for her.

I created a page inspired by the Hours of Mary of Burgundy. This book of hours was created around 1475 for Mary, Duchess of Burgundy by an anonymous artisan known as the Master of Mary of Burgundy (active: 1469 - 1483 ). Mary of Burgandy was the only child of Charles the Bold of Burgundy and Isabelle de Bourbon and wed Maximilian, archduke of Austria, of the Habsburg (Hapsburg) family, who later became emperor Maximilian I. The book is richly decorated and contains a gorgeous opening illumination showing Mary of Burgundy in contemplation with a book of hours.

The page I created was inspired by a page with white acanthus leaves and flowers on a field of gold leaf. To suit the piece to the young lady, I exhanged one of the pea flowers from the original manuscript page with a skull from the Office of the Dead near the end of the manuscript.

Gallery of images here

Elspeth's Rose

A number of years ago Brigid Caileen and Mittion were the Crown of Trimaris and TRM Caileen had a very special project. Her friend, Duchess Elspeth, had been in the SCA quite a number of years and although she had received many accolades, she had not received many illuminated pieces to commemorate those awards. Caileen set up to have scribes create all of the pieces that Elspeth was missing.

Caileen asked me to take the commission for the Rose scroll and although I was swamped at the time I could not say no to her. Saying no to Caileen is like saying no to your sweet grandma wrapped in a hurricane because she is a darling and a force of nature in one.

I had been toying with the knot-worked calligraphy from the Mira Calligraphae Monumenta for some time and decided this would be a good piece. I selected three of Hoefnagel's roses pictured in separate parts of the book and paired them with the knot-worked calligraphy. In the calligraphy, the award text was not long enough to create the cross shape so I added in lines from a medieval poem that I cannot recall.

The calligraphy on the curves was not easy and I recall not being entirely happy with it but the illuminations helped me to feel better about the piece as a whole.

A Finished Icon

Here is the finished product of the Russian icon style Pelican created for Master Sasha.

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Award: Pelican

Recipient: Sasha

Materials: watercolor gouache, various period pigments, pergamenata, gold leaf, gold ink, ink

Face details on angels and central figure: Mistress Finneadan

Text Translation to Russian: Master Octavio de Flores

Calligraphy and Illumination: Maol Mide

The original icon upon which this is based was executed by Russion iconographer Andrei Rublev who lived from the 1360's until about 1427 in Moscow. The image is based upon the icon "Christ in Glory" which is a motif that Rublev replicated within his own works. The figure of Christ seated within a red diamond upon a blue oval bordered with a red curving-sided rectangle and gilding was painted several times by Rublev with variation in the details.

The halo of the central figure has been removed and the details in the four corners of the red have been adjusted to Pelicans. One of the angel faces has been replaced with Jack from Nightmare After Christmas. The text in the book was a last minute addition not pictured here but it was a Latin equivalent of ‘Give him the bird’, which is a joke we have used on several Pelican scrolls in the past.

An icon in progress

I am working on Sasha's Pelican scroll and decided to take some in-progress shots of the work as it continues. The original icon upon which this is based was executed by Russion iconographer Andrei Rublev who lived from the 1360's until about 1427 in Moscow.

The image is based upon the icon "Christ in Glory" which is a motif that Rublev replicated within his own works. The figure of Christ seated within a red diamond upon a blue oval bordered with a red curving-sided rectangle and gilding was painted several times by Rublev with varietion in the details. This is my own variation of his work.

This past weekend, HL Finneadan worked on the faces for the angles and the seated figure that is styled as Sasha rather than the savior. Her work is gorgeous and I will get details of the faces up soon.

The second photo shown is the progress made last night. I worked most of the night on the drapery of the clothing and think I am pretty much done with that section.

Daimhin's Pelican

Codex Aureus of Canturbury pages as a Pelican Scroll for Daimhin.

Many small details of the orginal were adapted in favor of personalization for the recipient. Photos of the original work can be viewed in this post. An angel in theoriginal work ws exchanged for a pelicn with similar wings and the pink background was changed to green to suit the recipient's personal colors. An addition of diaper work was added over the green background of a falling script in whispy white asian character looking letters as a nod to the Matrix.

The saints in the upright finials of the original were exchanged and now are representtive of two formative Peers of the recipient. One, Baron Taly, holds a scroll bearin he alpha and omega and the exploding singulaity behind him represents the big bang... which he may have been there to witness. The other, Baroness Bela, bears a wooden stick with a shiny nail through the end and the diaper ork behind her is a spray of white gouts, as found on her device.

Within the initial the original letters were adjusted and several of the xenomorph characters were adjusted to pelicans and dogs.

Piece executed in gouache on pergamenta taking far longer than it should of.