A comment on my calligraphy

From the hand of the late Charles Schultz, taken from yahoo comics.

Charlie Brown knows how I feel about my calligraphy. I blobbed my ink right at the last line of a scroll. Smudged half of the line and left a big ole blot on the bottom of the page. It took longer to clean up than it did to write the text. I wished that I had taken pictures of the mistake and the clean up, but I didn't. Here is the link to the cleaned up scroll.

A is for Axes, which we throw very hard.

I have completed the first scroll in my Alphabet Challenge. The first one is based on the The Hunterian Psalter (f101r) and will be used for the thrown weapons champion for my Barony (Rhydderich Hael).

Here the layout is complete and I have started to ink over the pencil lines. I was working on this scroll on my couch next to the bin which holds my vitamins and meds. Not everything in that bin is medication.

Inking is complete.

Here I have started to fill in the image. I normally start with gold because it is persnikerty. I used Reeves gouache for colors and Holbein for the gold.

Here is the image almost complete. The paint is down and dry and I am about to start the final inking and whitework.The finished image can be found at my Flikr page. I will start the calligraphy as soon as I think up some words.

It has been a while since I last posted anything. I have completed my third A&S 50 Challenge for illuminated scrolls (just completed my 156th scroll since March 2011) and I am 36 scrolls into my A&S 50 calligraphy challenge. But, I need something to motivate myself and to stay focused on improving my scroll work. I am starting a personal challenge. For my next 26 scrolls, I will start each scroll with an illuminated capital letter in alphabetical order.

I was looking at a Pinterest site of medieval illuminations and grabbing some nice examples of pieces within my skill level and thought that I have done almost every letter. I went through my Flikr account and counted everything that I had posted. I have done:
17 Scrolls with an illuminated A
4 B's
10 C's
6 D's
4 F's
4 I's
2 K's
13 L's
4 M's
1 N
10 O's
11 P's
3 Q's
2 R's
9 S's
13 T's
and 3 W's.

Rather than fill in the gaps, I want to do a full 26 new scrolls in alphabetical order. I have just finished up a scroll with a giant C (https://www.flickr.com/photos/calebreynolds/13905314494/) but that won't count. I will try to do the calligraphy for each, as well, but I think that some of these will be given away as scroll blanks for Baronies and Kingdoms.

The first scroll in this challenge will be for thrown weapons baronial champion, due in June. A is for Axes. And while I could start each scroll like that, I think that I can do better.