Pantoum: Blossoms

Blossoms of orange scent the ink dark night,
Slip sweet as a lover through my window,
a languid kiss of spring and sugar.
Oh, how I have ached for this hour.

Slip, my sweet, as a lover through my window:
Your hands, your breath, your flesh
Oh, how I have ached for this hour.
My need, bare as a flower in the pale light.

Your hands, your breath, your flesh
I unfurl beneath each honeyed caress
My need, bare. A flower in the pale light
As blossoms of orange scent the ink dark night


Notes

So I noticed how long it has been since I have written any poetry and I was displeased with myself. I thought to take a line rattling in my head an use a poetic form to help me expand it. Pantoums are not especially easy so this might be not be the best route toward encouraging me to write again. What I love about pantoums is the repetition and the breathing of new meaning into the lines with each stanza.

I will probably work on this some more at another time as I am not entirely thrilled with this first foray back into poetic form.

Gwenhwfar ver Cain, Pelican

• Award: Order of the Pelican for Gwenhwfar ver Cain
• Inspiration: Dagulf Psalter circa 790 CE
• Drawing: Mistress Finnedan inhen Ruadhain. OL
• Illumination: Baroness Maol Mide ingen Medra, OL, OP
• Calligraphy: HL Finnguala inghen Alisdair
• Text: Baron Severin Visconti di Milano, KSCA and Baroness Maol Mide ingen Medra, OL, OP

Ok, so I dislike most early period illumination. I admit it. What I hate most is knot work. This is what knot work usually sounds like in my house: “Over, under, over, under, over, over, @%$!”. When my friends tell me they want an early period piece as a peerage scroll I mostly glower at them and ask if they are sure. Then I start chasing down designs that I do not loathe. This Pelican scroll was one of those times.

Gwenhwfar is my best friend and I was very excited for her elevation and to work on her award scroll, until she told me that she wanted something early period. Then I just sighed and tried to make the best of it.

We settled on the Dagulf Psalter, known also as the Golden Psalter as the text is written mostly in gold. There are only a few decorated initial pages. This piece takes Gwenhwfar’s favorite elements from each and combines them into a single illumination. If you would like to see more images of this Psalter, check out this Pinterest board. I’ve been using Pinterest as a ‘look book’ for working with clients who want an illumination. It helps me show them what the options are and lets them pin images to the same board if they find something they like.

We pieced together a design from the various illuminations. The page was laid out and drawn by Mistress Finneadan and then illuminated and gilded by me. The background for the initial page was a bit of a challenge. Rather than trying to dye the pergamenata, I used several layers of waterproof India ink to provide the same look and on which we could still calligraph.

Finnguala executed the beautiful and challenging gilded calligraphy on the initial page and then the gold ink calligraphy on the right page while I pulled out all my museum prep skills and made a false book onto which the scroll could be placed inside a shadow box. The ‘book’ has a foam core cover that is covered in white kid leather that was a bit dry and not suitable for gloves or regular use. Several false pages were created using a fine paper. The book was secured to the velvet backing with pins and carefully placed foam core to hold the ‘cover’ at a slight angle to create more of an open book appearance. A single feather and a butterfly we mounted inside the case to help balance the look and add our household symbol- a butterfly. Lastly, I mounted in the award, added a strip of ribbon as a book mark,  and secured the corners of the pages with strips of cut pergamenata and pins so that the pages would not curl. The overall look worked pretty well giving the impression of a book.

The wording for this award is written in four quatrains called Englyns, short but remarkably difficult. This Welsh style of poetry has a  rhyme scheme and syllable count that is fairly unique, and thus, pretty challenging. What I learned while writing englyns is that you should always stock mixers for your rum or you can find yourself drinking rum and diet Dr. Pepper (which is a combination I don’t think I would recommend). In case anyone ever suggests that writing poetry is easy… well, it isn’t. Doubly so while on command, under a time crunch and when trying to write something beautiful and fitting about your best friend. Rum does help though.

The first line of the first englyn recalls Saint Barrwg: Saint Baruc (also known as Barruc or, in modern Welsh, Barrwg [ˈbarʊg]) was a 6th century Welsh saint. Baruc, who was a disciple of Saint Cadoc, forgot to bring the latter's reading matter with him on a journey from the island of Flat Holm. Cadoc sent him back and he drowned in the Bristol Channel on the return journey. He was buried on Barry Island. The ruins of the chapel that was dedicated to him can still be seen in Friars Road, Barry Island, Vale of Glamorgan. His feast day is on 27 September.
 
Barrwg forgot not her name – Gwenhwfar
Virtue and grace her fame
Service and she both the same
Her Honor a blazing flame

Ready hands, keen eye and quick quill – lady
Possessor of such skill:
Problems solve, demands fulfill
Before asking lips are still

Striving, working all her days – Gwenhwfar
A kingdom sings in praise
With this peerage she is raised
Upon a Pelican, gaze!

At the closing of the year - post solstice
And for her we all cheer
Companions thus do steer
Liege Lords to make her peer.

In case anyone were to question the poetic style of this award as not adhering to standard SCA award style, a gloss text was added in deep blue on the burgundy initial page. If you look carefully, you can see this text written above the first line and between several of the uppermost lines of golden text:

Gwenhwyfar Ver Cain
Elevated to the Order of the Pelican
December 29, AS XLVII

Four painted pendants

This is what happens when I am left alone on a Friday night- I drink spiked eggnog and paint things that amuse me. Each pendant contains two mini paintings inside a metal frame with glass covers.

Kiwi! Apteryx and Actinidia, respectively.

Kiwi! Apteryx

Kiwi! Actinidia

Kites

Closer Still

Two Pair

Now available at Currant Thoughts

Lo, they do call me

The depiction of Yggdrasil was inspired by a carving from the Hylestad stave church door, circa 1175. The door depicts scenes from the story of Sigurd, in this scene Regin sleeps and Sigurd roasts the dragon's heart and burns his finger. The original carving places Sigurd and Regin at the base of a beautiful and smooth curving tree. The birds are original to the carving but the roots and the serpent Níðhöggr were added from my imagination. I chose to keep the illumination a subtle mix of browns which is both reminiscent of the carved wood of those ancient doors and appropriate for the gravity of the piece

The text for this page was inspired by the Risala of Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, a 10th century Islamic traveler who first-hand witnessed a Rus ship burial and wrote about what he saw. During that burial, a slave girl is sacrificed with her lord. Shortly before she is killed, she speaks this brave prayer which was translated to Ibn Fadlan as he watched the burial ceremony. This particular version of the prayer text is used in the movie The Thirteenth Warrior and is a poetic interpretation of the many translations of the Risala.

The pseudo-runic font I found on the title page of a 1908 printing of The Elder or Poetic Edda. To date, this is one of the better runic illusionary runic fonts I have found.

The text reads:
Lo there do I see my father
Lo there do I see my mother, my sisters and my brothers
Lo there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning. Lo, they do call me, they bid me take my place among them, in the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live forever.

Prints are now available at my Etsy store, Currant Thoughts.  The prints measure 4.5 X 6.5 inches and are matted in brown to 8 X 10 inches.

Special thanks to my Asatru heathen friends Brad Taylor-Hicks and John Beale who consulted with me and helped to consider which version of the text would have the best, and most appropriate, appeal. Also, thanks to Hunter Masters, my resident source of Norse mythology and symbolism.

Don't Blink: Weeping Angel Illumination

Continuing in my series of illumination for geeks I picked what is, in my opinion, the creepiest villain the Doctor Who series has ever created.

Weeping Angels...

Prints are now available in my Etsy store Currant Thoughts just in time for holiday shopping... or scaring the crap out of your friends and family.

This was a bunch of fun to create. I especially enjoyed playing with the twining ribbon around the frame and the angel itself. As for the hand at the bottom, well, there is a few hours of my life I won't get back. Hands = no fun ever.

Last night I finished a Norse inspired piece so I hope to have that up in a few days.

Gõcauo Diego Ramiriç, Knight

Within this Dream, upon the fields of the Known World, each of us has the opportunity to become something more, something better. Inside ourselves we find a nobility and grace that we did not know that we possessed and with each year we shape our rough clay smooth, revealing a bright light inside. Some men, like our good Gõcauo Ramiriç, shine so bright that they help to guide us all toward something greater.

In his words and deeds are found the prudence, fortitude, temperance and justice that marks him as a peer of the realm. He embodies a courage, a faith and a quality of mercy that reveals him as a true Knight of our Known World. As such and in consort with the Order, We, the Crown Trimaris, find it right and proper to elevate Gõcauo Ramiriç to the most noble Order of the Chivalry so that all may known him as a peer of the realm and society. On this day we charge you to stand exemplar of the ideals in which we believe and never to hesitate to give your life in the just defense of God, your lord or your Kingdom Trimaris.
So done by our hand upon this 27th day of October in the year or our society XLVII.
Krotuas, Ceaser & Brenna, Empress

Design and Execution:

Design for this illumination inspired by the Nasrid plaster carvings and Kufic inscriptions at the Alhambra palace of Grenada. 

Design and Layout: Mistress Maol and Mistress Finneadan
Illumination: Mistress Maol, Mistress Finneadan, HL Finnguala ingen Alisdair and HL Bronnach of Kildare
Calligraphy: HL Finnguala ingen Alisdair

Hours: Approximately 90ish

Notes: You know how every now and then I draw a line and say “I’m never doing this again”. Well, this is one of those times. Bringing light and depth to a monochromatic piece takes a lot of time and a lot of fiddling about with colors. Coaxing life and subtlety into this piece was a large chunk of the hours count. I’m really glad it is done and that Gõcauo likes it. However, I really no interest in seeing another image of plaster carving or of the Alhambra for quite some time.

Lorcan’s County

If I lead old friends into the fray,
I sing under the Shield,
And they fare into battle mighty and whole
and they fare from battle whole,
they are whole wherever they go.
------Havamal  verse 156.
All men praise nobility and worth. It is most praiseworthy of a King and Queen to recognize the accomplishments and value of their people. Therefore, We, Duncan and Larissa, King and Queen of Trimaris, do demand that all people honor the valiant and true Lorcann an Dubhghaille for this day He is proclaimed Earl. Let all the honors, rights, and privileges of this lofty rank be his due. For this day He has done the most noble and honorable of deeds.He has returned the fair Kingdom of Trimaris to Us richer and mightier than when He first received its Crown. Done by our hand this second of April, A.S. XLV
Duncan, King
Larissa, Queen

Design and Execution:
Design based upon the Ornside Bowl, an 8th century silver bowl crafted in York and found in the grave of a Viking warrior buried in Cumbria who likely looted the piece during a raid on York.
Shield Construction by Baron Segda ui Mordha

Drawn by Lady Brynna of Kildare

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Text, Transliteration, Calligraphy and Illumination by Mistress Maol Mide ingen Medra

Painting assistance provided by HL Gwenhwfyr ber Cain, Lady Brynna of Kildare, HL Arianna Rosa Cristina de Veniziano, Mistress Theodora Perplexa, Lady Franca Donato and dozens more who assisted in small portions so they could lend their skills to this unique project.

This piece was completed almost two years ago but I just recently received these close up photos of the work. Thanks to Patricia Bauman for the photos.

Stardust

There is something to be said
for lying
diagonal across a bed,
encircled by arms
and fixed by eyes,
that inch by inch,
lock this memory deep into their head.

Pure beauty contained in a moment,
in a sigh,
in the brown eyes watching you.
Divine inspiration found
in the way fingers knit together,
by the warmth of breath
on a pale shoulder.

If I close my eyes again,
this may be gone.

I,
like so many angels,
have fallen from grace
and I fall faster than
stars through an atmosphere,
burning like sunshine,
burning like a cigarette ash
until I find the ground again.

There is something to be said
for stardust
falling from the sky.
Embers tumbling
with no understanding,
nor recollection
of how they became
or why.

Here I am,
wondering how those stars feel
when they slip
into the hands of gravity.
Do they feel this way...
when reaching across an empty bed
and brushing fingers
over the satin of a pillowcase...
waiting for that space
to be filled again.

If I open my eyes again,
this might still be real.

Brown eyes
and a hand resting lightly
upon my arm
as sleep settles on me
stir at the memory.

This day is closing down,
and I am a smiling mote
of stardust...

waiting to land.

Butterfly Pumpkins: In the spirit(s)

Swallowtail pumpkin

I made these for work- as they decay, butterflies will feed upon the fermenting juices of the pumpkins making these not just decorations, but also an alternate food source.

They are also a source of humor. The butterflies drinking the fermented pumpkin juice get quite drunk until they can no longer fly. They stagger about but keep going back for more. It looks suspiciously like Ybor City at 3am on a Saturday. Yes, yes. I know. I'm likely a terrible person for finding this funny but trust me, it is hilarious to watch. I will try to get some video to post later.

Generic butterfly pumpkin

To carve these pumpkins I used a commercial kit tool not unlike a vegetable peeler and some wood carving tools. The surface is peeled away to various depths but the pumpkin is not cut open and hollowed out which slows down the rotting process. I imagine that some leather working tools could also be rather useful and may try something more intricate for next year.

Fear is the mind killer

I have illuminated a sand worm. In typing that sentence I may also have written a totally original and never before written or read combination of words in the English language.

The design is based upon cover art from an old paperback volume of the novel Dune by Frank Herbert. The text is the ‘Litany Against Fear’ from the novel.

This piece will be the first in a series of fine art for geeks. I plan to cover several worlds of science fiction and fantasy as well as some notable quotes which may be of interest to the science and history minded.

4x6 Watercolor gouache, ground mineral pigment, shell gold and ink on Bristol.

Prints are available in my Etsy store, Currant Thoughts.

Next on deck: Illuminating a weeping angel and a tromp l’oeil illumination inspired by the Nasrid plaster carvings and Kufic script of the Alhambra in Grenada.

Nine Tiles: Pink Petals

This is what happens when I let someone else pick my next project- I produce something I never would have done otherwise. My dear sister named my color pallet and subject, thus, pink and flowery.

These nine hand-painted tiles are currently available on my Etsy store- Currant Thoughts.

Nine Tiles: Butterfly Blues

Nine ceramic tiles painted with portion of butterfly wings in three shades of blue. Sold a few weeks ago before making it to the Etsy store.