My first "Period" paintings in the SCA.

 




As I began to get involved in the SCA, Mary in particular urged me to participate by offering to do Award Scrolls.  I was initially reluctant to do this until I had done some work to get a feel for a period style.  At a local "Arts and Science" gathering (my first such event), I took some acrylic paints (as these were all I had), borrowed a book from the person hosting the event, and copied a manuscript painting of St Columba on a sea journey from a twelfth-century copy of Bede's "Life of St Columba".  After that I did two more from the same book.  They are straight copies, but I still enjoy them... unlike almost all my subsequent work, which was created to be given away, I still have them framed on my wall.  It was enough to get the juices flowing.  I think this was the beginning of 2016.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A long-awaited Laurel Scroll

Image
 This scroll was commissioned at the beginning of 2020.  You can guess the rest.  By the time I had completed it, it was apparent it wasn't going to be presented any time soon, so I finished it without adding the date, which I was finally able to add a month ago, and the scroll was presented yesterday.  So far my record for the longest delay between my doing a scroll and it being presented, but I have another one still awaiting presentation which will beat that record!
Read more

Winter Poem for Yule Ball

 The Bardic Challenge for Yule Ball 2021 was to produce a piece of work on the theme of "Winter".  I looked for inspiration to the traditional symbols for each month, as used in calendars from Books of Hours and some wall paintings, and used those for the three winter months, namely: December: Killing the Pig January: Feasting indoors February: Sitting by the fire. When I came to perform my poem, the sheets of paper on which it was written had disappeared!  I was invited instead to record a performance of it, which is this:
Read more

Scrolls in 2023

Image
Laurel for Marlein Eberlein.  This was a scroll I had promised to do for the recipient as and when she became a Laurel (recognised master in the field of Arts and Sciences in the SCA). That finally happened this year. It was inspired by 16th century "Citizen Portraits"... that is, portraits commissioned by well-to-do bourgeois, something that really only began to happen in this period.  Previously portraiture had mostly been the monopoly of royalty or nobility.  Such portraits often (though far from universally) feature the sitter's accomplishments or source of their wealth, and because the sitter will not be armigerous, any heraldry will be typically that of their trade guild.  In this case I featured the clothes Marlein has made (being worn by her), a sprang hairnet and some pottery, three arts in which she has distinguished herself.  As she often sells her produce, I have put her at a trade counter, implying a successful merchant. I used the symbol of the Lau...
Read more