Insert title here.

Well, I got these two to the point where all of the paint has been applied. And I have most of the shading done. Now I have to do the inking and the highlights. 

Thinking about the I.33 image: I do have good quality images of the entire manuscript. I think that I will do scrolls based on every page over the next few years. The Crown gives out tons of Golden Alces for sword fighting and there is no reason why I can't slip an I.33 in every now and then. Plus tourney scrolls. Plus gift baskets and backlog scrolls for other Kingdoms plus the Hael and our neighbors. There are 64 pages and this would be the 2nd one I've done. I think that I could finish up all of them over the next 5 or 6 years.

With small text, like the original, they would make nice scrolls.

The V is done

My replacement V is done. I kept the same colors as the one that I ruined, but the green came out a bit darker.

I am a fan of the white vine style of illumination. All of the images that I have seen use just four colors: gold, blue, red and green.The vines are left uncolored and their whiteness brightens up the blue, red and green. Very easy to set up, very easy to paint and with a couple of hours of work, one can have a lovely initial, ready to be used for any type of scroll.

A new batch of scrolls

Sloane MS 1975, Folio 13r. I received a scroll with this design when I earned my Huntsman badge, a couple of years ago. I don't know if I'm going to keep the same colors, but I am not going to give the man a green face.Yes, he is supposed to have been poisoned by the scorpion but he looks like a zombie.

Another plate from I.33. I found good quality images of the entire manuscript and I plan on doing them all. Not all at once, but will have my choice for the next umpteen years. I think that they will all have the same color scheme. Perhaps switch the starting color each time I do one of these plates.

Finally, a nice L with diapering and the V that I butchered. Here's to hope that my ink behaves better on this one.

I give up.

I was working on a nice piece of white vine when I really messed up on the ink. It pooled and ran and made a mess. I don't know if my nib was dirty or if it was too cold, when I was working, but my meager calligraphy skills had failed me, on that day. Unfortunately, I have been unable to scrape and sand the ink off. 

All I appear to be doing is spread the ink around and I've removing too much of the paper.

I used an X-acto knife, white emory foam and metal grade sand paper. I'm removing layers of paper but it appears that the ink has soaked in very deep. Maybe I can cut out the illumination and paste it onto another piece of paper. I started on re-doing this initial, because I liked how it turned out.

Post Ice Dragon WooHoo!

I won two of the three categories that I had entered: BEV3 Single Cordials (Cinnamon water) and BEV4 Single Other, non-alcoholic (Lemonade). And I received some nice comments from my judges. And Her Majesty left a red feather on my scroll  and Mistress Orianna Fridrikskona picked my Lemonade as her choice for the Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences's Choice for the best thing since baked bread (pre-sliced bread is not period). And I got challenged to a duel to the death by the latest youth fencer of AEthelmearc. I told her that if I win I get all of her toys, but since I'm an adult and have no toys, if she wins she gets to pay off my mortgage. For some reason, she wasn't happy with that; I don't know why. But, here is a picture with cats:

Almost ready for Ice Dragon

This year I am only entering three items into the Ice Dragon A&S competition: a scroll blank that I have no chance of winning and two different beverages that I have high hopes for the beverages. My documentation for the scroll and one of the beverages are complete and the second's is almost done: I'm too tired to finish it tonight. I'm having trouble trying to think up words to describe the finished product other than "Damn! That's a harsh taste." I'll think up something at work, tomorrow, once I start to brain, again. I really need to brain:  I had to re-write this post 'cause I started to describe my entries and they should remain anomoys... anaomis... aneimes... Secret until they have been judged.

I completely forgot about the Ides of March.