Joint Project – Custom Scroll based on Judith Beheading Holofernes.
I do a lot of custom SCA scrolls. If it involves painting, and I have reference material and don’t have to do the design, I can create it very fast. This is why my husband, Michael, and I are such an amazing team. His super power is design. He comes up with the most creative ideas, he can communicate those ideas really well, and has the patience to methodically sketch out borders, circles and geometric designs. My super power is the ability to quickly and accurately draw from a reference (whether from life or a photo).
My husband was asked to create a scroll for a SCAdian’s elevation to Laurel. This particular recipient recreates beautiful late german gowns and has a facination with skulls and bones. Michael knew immediately what he wanted to do, but most of it was a painterly style. So he enlisted my help. He started by creating a really rough mockup with little circles for skulls and an oval inside a square for the miniature. He then sent me many inspiration sources for what he had envisioned inside all the areas. For the miniature he wanted to depict the recipient re-creating the “Judith Beheading Holofernes” artwork (which she had amazingly recreated in a photo).
We used a piece of vellum from “not a herbivore” that my husband had been saving. Michael laid out the borders and then handed it to me. Using many sources for bones I sketched out all the bones, then sketched the miniature. We then enlisted the help of our friend Hlutwige for the calligraphy. Once she had finished that portion, I started painting. I completed the miniature first, then moved onto the bones. Once I did a few of the bones, I handed it back to Michael and he put down much of the initial layers of paint. Once that was done, I added the shading and shadows, then Michael did some of the final highlights.
Order of the Carp – Fishies in a Pond
I love doing asian-inspired fishies so I’ve done a few of these Order of the Carps already. This latest piece doesn’t really have a source material since my vision was more of a ultra realistic painting that looks like a bunch of carps swimming inside a square pond with the words resembling eddies in the water.
(example of an optical illusion painting on a plate)
For colors I went with a Chinese-inspired gold ink on a red paper. Since this is a colored paper I had to do the 2-part painting process where I do an underlayer in white so that the fish aren’t tinted red. I was a little frustrated with the outcome as I did not quite achieve my vision (they are not realistic enough and the words looked more chaotic than like water), but the recipient was thrilled by the art and that’s really what matters.
Here is a example of another Order of the Carp scroll I did last year.
Scribal Contest – Ordo Aegis in the Style of the Hours of Anne de Bretagne
During 2020 most of the art I did was for various 48 hour scribal contests. This is an example of an Ordo Aegis Honoris that I created for Three Mountains.
48 Hour Scribal Contest
Another of 2020s art contests, this piece was a joint project by my husband and I. This piece was a long overdue Knighting scroll for Sir Edward Ean Anderson. My husband, Michael created the design and laid out where the art would go. He also created all of the little wisps of wind. I did the calligraphy and the painting, using period gouche paints. We came in 2nd in the masters portion of the contest. The recipient was thrilled to finally receive it.
Equestrian Scroll
A few years ago I had the honor of creating a custom scroll for the outgoing Equestrian Kingdom Champion. Since her persona is Norse, and I wanted to do a painting, not rock carving, I decided to do a painting of her in front of a norse house with her horse. In the foreground is a norse rock that looks carved and painted and contains the text of the scroll.
Court Barony Map
When Sebastien and Erika stepped down as Baron and Baroness of Three Mountains, I had the honor of creating their court barony scrolls. For this piece, I created a medieval map of the Barony of Three Mountains.
Custom Goutte in the style of the Farnese Hours
The Farnese Hours is my FAVORITE medieval illumination. Created at the end of the 16th centry by Italian artist Giulio Clovio for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, it uses all of the colors, shading and beautiful forms that Italian Reinassance art is known for. The artist also had an eye for color and uses BRIGHT pinks, blues and yellows that is rarely seen in other medieval manuscripts, even during that era. He is also a big fan of well-sculpted men, and women who look like well-sculpted men.
In one of his pieces of work, he beautifully paints death sitting atop kings, nobels and popes, denoting that death eventually rules all. I knew from the moment I saw it that I was going to use it as inspiration for a custom piece of art. Luckily one of my friends has an equal love of skulls and death artwork, so when he asked me if I would paint him a custom Goutte de Sang, but with skulls, I agreed.
Something a little different – a MOD scroll for a Star Wars Cosplayer
What do you do when you are asked to do a custom scroll for someone of MANY talents, who also loves Star Wars, Marvel and other Cosplay as much as they love fencing in the SCA? Well, if you are me, you create them a custom scroll with as many elements as you can put into it.
This piece is created on black 11×14 paper. The symbol/shape is in the form of Dr. Strange’s magical symbols. The text is written in the Star Wars language. And the icons all through it are of star wars, SCA, marvel and even has the reciepient’s beloved dog.
