Progression 2023

 Another retrospective on improvement.

This month, I was at a loss as to what to work on, scribal-wise. I had no scroll assignments and little to no motivation to do any work. To give myself a metaphoric kick in the ass, I decided on re-doing some of my early work; images I did when I started working on illumination. I went through my Flikr account and picked some images that I had not re-done since way back when. And images from actual period sources instead of the fantasy pieces that I had done. 

On the left is scroll number 38 (I had started numbering my scrolls when I started the A&S 50 project) completed in July 2011. On the right is scroll number 509, completed today. Both are inspired by MS G.43 fol. 99v (England, perhaps Canterbury, ca. 1180).

On both images, I didn't stick with the source material's colors, but had my own idea of what I wanted them to look like. On the older image, I can clearly see that I had slapped paint on the paper without any clue as to what I was doing. The older image was on Bristol cotton/wood pulp blended paper, 140# hot press; the newer image is on Arches 100% cotton 140# hot press paper. The older image I think was done completely with Reaves gouache while the newer one was done with Windsor & Newton gouache, except for the brown, which was also Reaves. 

In addition, the blue of the newer image had the addition of ox gall. The blue was being difficult and I couldn't stop if from looking blotchy. Friends suggested a couple of drops of ox gall, which did help greatly. 

The gold on the newer image was lumped on unevenly; I like how the lumpy surface catches and reflects the light better than a smooth surface. Aside from that, I am using less paint, but I've learned to use it better. Instead of one think layer, I learned to paint several very thin layers of gouache. The thinner layers dry faster, and each layer worth of pigment has a greater chance of scattering light as the light passes through each layer until it reaches the white of the paper, where the photons are reflected back through the layers of paint, further scattering the light.  The end result is deeper and richer colors

The white dots on the blue background enhance the blue, making it brighter and covers up any unevenness of the top layer of pigment. I used Windsor and Newton white ink applied with a pen. The source image just had a solid color as the background, but I think the white dots adds some depth to the image and helps the grotesque stand out. 

This is not the first time I have posted my illumination progression on this blog, but I feel that going through my notes and memories is good for me to see what I learned and the steps and lessons that brought me closer to doing excellent scribal work. I recommend any beginner scribe who might read this to keep notes on what materials you use and what classes you take. Scan all of your work and number them so that you can better track your work. Since we give our work away, only by scanning our work allows us to keep a copy of the gifts we give to others.