Yesterday I was going through my books preparing for the coming Book Arts RUSH and found again my current published books on pigment history. They are both books about early art material production. These books interest me because Medieval artists or their staff made their own paints. Knowing that paint production history enhances your color use when recreating illumination art. These two…
As I mentioned before my new passion is developing my persona. While I will never be a Duke Cariadoc of the Bow I’m doing more things Jehanne would have done. I, as Jehanne, lived in 15th century Burgundy in Ghent and Bruges. A prosperous time, well-developed in trade crafts. It eventually came under Maximillian I and Mary of…
Cambrai Channsonier, MS. 126B fol. 132v, Bruges 1542 Bibliothèque Municipale, When you look through this 16th-century songbook made for a Bruges aristocrat you see it’s filled with artistic, decorative daily life images. But it also includes many that are bluntly bizarre or crazy. It’s the Cambrai Chansonnier, MS 0128 dated 1543. Its fun pictures are delicately drawn in…
Does your metal broad-edge pen nib give your calligraphy hairline strokes? Or does it have a burr that hangs up on the paper? Don’t throw it away. Sharpen it. Nibs aren’t sharp like knives. But sharper nibs give narrower strokes. You want a slope or bevel on your nib edge to reduce the amount of…
At Lonely Tower’s scribes gathering recently Ly. Kristin asked what the basic illumination skills were that she should learn. Kristin is an accomplished preprint painter with wonderful skills, but she wants to take it a step further. How does she know what skills she should learn? Where would you look? A great starting place is…
I often read James Gurney‘s blog the Gurney Journey. Gurney is the Dinotopia guy. His art is amazing and his posts inspiring. Recently, I found a post of his I think you’ll find interesting. Some gouache tests his associate Cathy Gura ran comparing gouache brands rewetting behaviors. She also compared their consistency and of all things their…
How about an inspiration boost? Websites you might browse to charge your creative history juices. An Internet Round-up. Here are five blogs from different eras each painting their own authenticity recreation picture. Your introduction to their personal history journey. This pretty is from a Book of Hours Belgium, Bruges, ca. 1520 MS M.307 fol. 174v I enjoy losing myself in photos and…
You may have noticed I’ve stepped up my local SCA participation. It’s difficult for me to get away from the Barony so I’ve decided to do more here, taking on more event and local jobs. Book Arts RUSH Flyer I coordinated crash space at Bardic Bedlam, Arts & Sciences competitions at Coronation, and now I’m the Barony’s Social Media…