Tips

The Useful Paint Niche

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Recently at our scribal meeting, I was asked about how I use my gouache palette. Do I put out new paints for each painting session? Do I reconstitute the dried paint in its well? What do I do if the paint breaks into small bits? All great questions.  This is what I do. You may find other scribes work differently. […]

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Tips

Tip To Seeing Like An Artist

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See the details? Have you been asking yourself when painting a preprint or charter why experienced scribes put the shadows where they do? Why the whitework goes where it does? Or how you transform what you see to the page? Here’s an idea for you to try. Before the huge number of illuminations on the internet, I would hunt down books that had enlarged the small pictures of illuminations. Today it’s easy to do the same thing yourself with online images.  Find a high-resolution digital illumination picture you like and zoom-in. Enlarge and expand them dramatically. Save them or print them out. Then take your time and study their strokes and details. Try to recreate them.  On Pinterest, I have a few boards that may help you with this.  Illumination: Drapery  Illumination: Shading Illumination: Strokes Illumination: Whitework I have confidence you’ll figure things out. The more illuminations you peruse and pore over the strokes the easier it becomes. It’s all about you recreating tiny details. Related Prior Post:   5 Tips To Train Your Artist Eye Related External Page:  Advanced Illumination by Mistress Nerissa de Saye 

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Materials And Tools

Is Gouache Toxic?

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I’ve heard that some people lick their brush to shape it to a point. Since most watercolor and gouache paints are listed as “non-toxic”, that should be safe to do. But is it?  What does “paint toxicity” mean for scribes? How much paint does it take to be considered toxic…one lick or do you have to eat a whole tube? What […]

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