Royal Augmentation for Mistress Julianna

Based on Italian design sketch, I think I did it when I went to the Newberry. It's on vellum, part of the hide I referred to in another post. I had to use the raven's head with pearls in it's mouth. I suck at painting jewels. I have no clue what the trick is as I see people who do them and make them perfect.
I hope she liked it. I even left framing room on this one.

Purple Fret

I'm told the reciepent received his award. It was given at RUM and I couldn't be there. It's done on vellum and the photo isn't a very good one. I took it with my phone.

Inspiration is from the Lutteral Psalter. It's been a long time since I did any white work and thought it would be fun.

I liked the skin and it had a lot of character. I hope the gentle that received it liked.

Silver Oak for Ian the Green

The inspiration come from the Grand Hours.
It's done on vellum with a mix of dry pigments and tubes. The hide came from Master John the Artifacer's shop. It was given to me by some of my household many, many wars past. I don't why but it just took a while for me to use it.

I used home-made ink given to me by a friend. 23K loose gold leaf with a mix of traditional and modern gesso. I ran out of traditional gesso.

This was supposed to be given at Coronation but the recipient didn't make so he got it given at RUM.

I didn't realize until someone on FB pointed out that the illuminated letters spells Pig and Sow. They had a great laugh and I had shear horror. This was done purely by accident. Thankfully Ian a fellow scribe understood what I did. I offered to remake the scroll and he said no he loved it.

I had a bad arm day and well over all I think it turned out good.
Sadly, I've been having way too many bad arm days. :( But no pain, no gain. ????

AOA for Lady Emma.

No, it's not damaged. It's animal skin and had a few imperfections. It was lot of fun and I hoped Emma liked it. She's new to the SCA and well her friends thought it was a great idea.

The biggest problem I had and it didn't happen until I started the illumination was the skin buckled. Still haven't figured out why.

I'm still thinking sticking to smaller will be the challenge and the path to take. At least until I'm rich and don't care how much anything costs. LOL LOL LOL

backlog 2: Dragon's Tooth

This was done on vellum with traditional materials.
I should have left framing room but not an easy task as it was a small piece of vellum. It was even close to what the original design was. LOL

Backlog: Dragon's Tooth

Can you guess the materials?

A Lesson Learned and Not Forgotten.

It's taken three long years but my property has finally been returned. Thanks Rose, the soon to be ex. It's rather large and rather than re-posting all the photos. I provided a link, if anyone wants to see the book. The pictures aren't super great as at the time I was learning how to take photos and upload good images. Thankfully, cameras have come a long way. :)

http://patty-space.deviantart.com/gallery/4068630

It was not returned in the same condition but it's fixable. It arrived in a dirty flimsy candy box. :( The cover even had a ring of something on it. It appears the person took it apart. (shakes head) Not sure what I'll do with it now. Other than I consider it lesson hard learned.

I tend to be a trusting person. I was given a hard luck story and fell for it. Hook, Line and sinker. :( I mean what should I have done? :( The guy tells me he lost his job and it's part of the wedding ceremony. But later I find he's going to the 'mouse trap' and other nice trips. WTF?

I know. Sucker!!! I've beat myself up over this far too much. The horse is dead and it's past time for me to move on.

The center portrait was done by my good friend Shannon. I'll be posting a link to her shop later on. She's an awesome artist and I owe her dearly for assisting me. This book took a lot of work to complete. I used very traditional methods for the time period.

Sad I didn't get paid but glad I got the book back.

WAY too long.

OMG has it really been this long since I've been on this site? WOW. Well it's not for lack of being active. A few other sites took my attention but I'm back and will hopefully be doing much updating.

To those of you that pay attention to my dribble, THANK YOU. Thank you for the feedback also.

This is really meant for me to keep track of progress and sometimes set backs. It will sometimes be very informative and other times just babble. ;)

So welcome and please feel free to comment but be constructive not hurtful.
Please don't steal my work or anyone else. Ask; you'd be amazed how far that will go. ;)

Have a great day.

My Scribal Desk

My two art critics approve. LOL

My hubby built me this desk. It's made of solid Oak and is on the heavy side (well for me anyway). It is portable and the legs are removable. It even has a draw and the inside has room to store things like brushes and paper.

My next goal is a chair to go with the desk. :)

Paper! It makes a difference!

I'm continuing to learn about how to use color pencils. I've learned a lot about compliment colors, shading and layering. It's still hard to me and I feel a bit like I"m still in over my head. But I'm sticking with it.

I've been able to apply these skills to my watercolor and gouache work. I've also been working with Alcohol and Kosher Salt. And I'll write more later about my discoveries.

This post is about paper!!!!
OMG my Bristol paper isn't white. OK you artist types stop laughing at me. I have stated many times. I'm self-taught and I'm learning. Anyway...Thanks to Shannon for pointing this out.

I've had a pad of Borden & Riley, BleedProof Paper for a while. I decided to give it a try as Shannon works on this paper and likes it. She's an awesome talented artist and I hope to be closer to her talent some day. Or to let the world know about her talent.

We put a sheet of Borden and Bristol side by side. The Borden is WHITE!!!!! The Bristol looks dull and even yellow. I tried this under several different types of light. Sunlight = ouch, very bright. lol

Don't get me started on Bristol Sketch Series 400. This piece is done on the Bristol Series 400. The 400 is dull and not kind if you need to erase. Actually, I kinda like how this turned out but I think it's probably in need of another layer of color pencil. The 400 is expensive and super thin. Maybe I'm doing this all wrong. [shrug] Nuf said there.

Borden's is a bit tricky to work with. It's a very, very smooth surface and this took a little getting used to. The colors just pop. It's amazing. I also have less surface lines (texture) not sure how to explain this. But the color goes on smoother.

I have finished several pieces and I hope to have all of them posted in a bit.

Trading Cards? hmmmmmm

I have better individual close-ups on my dA site.

These are fun things to do. I've been experminting with a variety of media. The P, A, and stain glass are done in gouache and water color.

The Rose is water color and metalic water color. It's lost in the scan but it shimmers and looks kinda neat.

I also used silver shimmer for the Tunnel.

The dragon is a done with ink. Kind a cool.
All the cards are free-handed and done just for fun. I plan on do more as soon as something comes to mind.

Color Pencil Class?

On Tuesday I attended a Color Pencil Class? Well, not class in the strictest since of the word. A wonderful lady named Tina from PAL has agreed to teach me about Color Pencils and their use. It's informal which I enjoy. She's a good teacher with a lot of patience and very encouraging.
There are two other very tallented people in the class. One is my girlfriend S who does incredible art work. I have a link to her site on the side of my blog. The other gentle is B. He was working on some flowers. Oh MY!! It was beautiful. I feel so out of place. I don't know many art terms. I can't really draw fast. It takes me hours upon hours to get something to were I like it.

This is a very new media to me. I'm having a frustrating time trying to shading and show depth. What's the secrete? Why is it so hard? I thought this should be realitvely easy. No water. No brushes. No overwetting. Even mixing color should be easy. Sigh Why is this so different?
I've been searching the web and found a few helpful sites. I tried using the blending pencil which is a kind a cool effect. But once you blend it seems you can't do anything else with it that area.
I've used watercolor pencils and those seem very easy to show shading after I had water. I've done a lot of practice and I might post some scans. Just so I can see if there is any improvement.
Well it's back to the sketch book and a breakthrough of inspiration.