I did it, again

So Many Words. So Little Space

The downside to using period sources for scroll wording is that sometimes I don't know when to stop. I really love the fluid language that they, at least the English, used in royal proclamations. I love the sound of the cadence of the repeated phrases and the redundancy.

Know ye that of our especiall grace, certaine science and meere motion, we have given and granted, and by these presents for us, our heires and successours, doe give and graunt to our trustie and welbeloved servaunt Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Compton, in our castle of Devonshire Knight, and to his heires and assignee for ever, free libertie and licence from time to time, and at all times for ever hereafter, to discover, finde, search out, and view such remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countreys and territories not actually possessed of any Christian prince or people, as to him, his heirs & assignee, and to every or any of them, shall seeme good: and the fame to have, hold, occupie and enjoy to him, his heires and assignee for ever, with all commodities, jurisdictions, and royalties both by sea and land; and the said sir Humfrev and all such as from time to time by licence of us, our heiress and successours, shall goe and travell thither, to inhabits or romaine there, to build and fortifie at the discretion of the sayde Sir Humfrey, and of his heires and assignee, the statutes or actes of Parliament made against Fugitives, or against such as shall depart, romaine or continue out of our Realme of England without licence, or any other acte, statute, lawe or matter whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. And wee doe likewise by these presents, for US, our heires and successours, give full authoritie and power to the saide Sir Humfrey, his heires and assignee, and every of them, that tree and they, and every of any of them, shall and may at all and every time and times hereafter, have, take and lead in the same voyages, to travell thitherward, and to inhabits there with him, and every or any of them, such and so many of our subjects as shall willingly accompany him and them....

Wonderful. The downside it that I normally don't have 120 square inches of free space for wording. The other night, I wrote some awesome wording for {THAT PERSON THAT YOU LIKE}. 341 words for about 51 square inches of space. I had to gut about 100 words in order that everything fit in the space available. And, man, I hate doing that 'cause they were nice words. I know that it does take up extra time in {THAT EVENT THAT YOU LIKE}'s court but I feel that everyone who gets called up for an award, regardless of the award, should hear the herald read out some fancy-schamcy words describing that person and what they did to get the award. "Bla-bla has done great things in Our eyes and so do We, King and Queen, award him/her this award and a harty hand shake."

We are AEthelmearc: we can do better than that.

Shot Through the Heart

And You're To Blame.

Magnus, you give archers a bad name!

Tonight, at the Hael archery practice, I lost an arrow. Blam! A clean hit. I blame Baron Magnus. It appeared that Thalia Papillon shot the killing round; but I'm blaming Baron Magnus. Just 'cause.

You know, once in a while it is my pleasure, and my privilege, to shoot some of the great arrows of our time. And tonight, I had one such arrow. My Lords and Ladies, an arrow which I've always personally admired, perhaps more deeply, more strongly, more abjectly than ever before. An arrow, well more than an arrow, a weapon of the gods, a great god, whose personality is so totally and utterly wonderful my feeble words of praise sound wretchedly and pathetically inadequate. An arrow, had it feet, whose boot I would gladly lick clean until holes wore through my tongue, an arrow which was so totally and utterly wonderful, that I would rather be sealed in a pit of my own filth, than dare miss the target with it.

Anyways, it's done broken and dead. C'est la vie.

I think that this is the first time in like 30 years that I had an arrow from a dozen break before loosing a tip. 

A pretty good shot. Thalia split my arrow and Magnus dropped a round in between the halves.

Here's the thing about arrows: They will break. They will get lost. You will have to buy new ones at some point. Arrows, and crossbow bolts, are like potato chips: you break some and you buy another bag, possibly one of those new flavors, like Maui Onion or Spicy Cayenne and Cheese. And how come Lays offers Smokey Bacon flavored chips in Canada and not in the 'States? Huh? What's up with that? And have you seen some of the flavors they offer in England? Cheese and Onion, Prawn Cocktail, Beef and Onion, German Bratwurst Sausage, Italian Spaghetti Bolognese, French Garlic Baguette, English Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Dutch Edam Cheese, Australian BBQ Kangaroo, Welsh Rarebit and Marmite. Why does England get awesome flavors and we don't? Well, except for the Marmite flavored chips. They can keep them. And the Haggis flavored chips. Yes, they made haggis flavored potato chips in 2010. What the hell, England.....

Er, I feel that I got side tracked. My point is, don't get upset that you lost an arrow or two. Put money aside and buy more. If it's that troubling, don't spend a couple hundred bucks on arrows. Buy cheap arrows and let them fall where they may. If you are too hung up on your ammo, you won't go out on the fun ranges and you will subconsciously drop your arrows away from the bulls eye to keep them safe from other archers. 

Beware the Ides of March

I can't believe I forgot, again.

Remember, it's not about murdering an emperor. It's about getting together with your friends and murdering an emperor as a team.

Another Three Scrolls completed

And Some Retrospective

Another trio of scrolls illuminated. One of these is for an assignment for {THAT PERSON THAT YOU LIKE} and the other two were to keep the first from getting lonely. See, I have a theory. Not a great theory but it's mine. If you work on only one scroll, it will take a long time 'cause the scroll is lonely and doesn't want to be finished. If you work on several at the same time, they all become friends and encourage you to finish them so that they can hang out, together, in your scroll case. Without you. Because they hate you and don't want to be around you.

Like I said; not a great theory. I finished up these three while watching Stranger Things. Wow. Great show. I kept getting distracted. In both directions: the painting distracted me from the show and the show distracted me from the painting.

 All three were designs that I've done before. I just pulled the print outs out of an envelope and traced them. One of them I did way back in 2012, when I thought I knew what I was doing.

This was scroll 93: The 43rd scroll for my second A&S 50 challenge. In 20/20 hind sight, I really did not know what I was doing. Oh, I am not saying that I know everything, now, about how to do illumination. Far from it. But now I know enough to identify my flaws. And, man, are there lots of flaws.

In the old scroll, I just slapped paint everywhere. In the new scroll (number 314) I used a fraction of the pigment I had used on the first one, and I was careful as to where I put it. Although, I think the diapering on the old one looks better: I kind of rushed it on the new one and the crosses look sloppy. But I have improved my whitework and my shading is better. At this rate, I should be an expert in another ten years.

More Scrolls

Betcha can't make just one.

I got a scroll assignment for {THAT PERSON YOU LIKE}, yesterday. Which means it's time to work on a scroll. And I just can't work on one scroll at a time. One of these three will be for the above mentioned assignment, the other two... just 'cause.