This has been an... odd week.
Over the weekend we had a house guest: Lady Danielle was in town for a work function, but they were not providing her with lodging, so I offered for her to stay with us. I just started getting to know Lady Dani at the Medieval Fair. She and Lady Nicolaa were doing a lot of illumination under the Living History pavilion and, while I was busy doing other things, in the back of my head I was wondering if illumination was something I could do.
My grandmother was a painter and every summer when I went to stay with her, she insisted I paint something while I was there. Usually that was the nap alternative, so I was happy to comply. Now that I'm older, I can't help but think my grandmother was looking for some painting talent in her favorite granddaughter, and while I don't think I'm just gifted or anything, at least I can stay in the lines!
So when we went to a demo for the Campfire USA kids last Saturday, I asked Lady Dani if she could get me started with illumination. We had made papier mache masks Friday night for an upcoming masquerade ball, so I had purchased brushes (a pack of 30 various sizes and qualities for $5). When we got to the demo, there was an illumination table so we set up there and she and Lady Shanna got me started with paints and AoA charter scrolls.
The particular scroll I was working on was laser printed on nice paper and had very little decoration -- just a bar with vines and flowers on one side, a simpler version to the right at the end of a sentence and a decorative capital "p." I started painting the flowers red and was having a grand time of it when the skys opened up and started pelting our covered pavilion with rain and pea-sized hail! We were doing okay for a little bit because there was a generous overhang on the roof, but before long the wind picked up and we started scrambling about trying to save the scrolls. I threw mine in Lady Shanna's portfolio and that was that for the rest of the day.
I thought I would get to paint again at Scribal Night the following Tuesday, but it was cancelled due to a conflicting meeting. So now I'm practically foaming at the mouth to paint again! I thought I'd enjoy it, but I didn't think I would be dreaming about it every night! They told me where to get the paints, but I wouldn't know what colors to get or what to even look for so I'll just wait and keep my fingers crossed that they won't cancel Scribal again next week! :)
What exactly does this have to do with the ongoing subject matter? Lady Dani has Persian scrolls I can learn to make! Woot! And since the Ottomans wrote most (if not all) of their poetry in Persian, I can't wait!
About Emine
- Emine
- In the Society for Creative Anachronism I portray a 16th century (around 1540) Italian (or possibly Hungarian) slave in the court of Kanuni Suleiman. Mundanely, I am a web designer, student and government slave wasting away between class and work. I am a very proud catmom and loving fiancee to Lord Ashikaga Hideyoshi, mka Taylor B, aka the Giant Irish.
2 comments:
If you have a Michael's Arts and Crafts near you, they sell the paints that we use here in Colorado. They are cheap, but that's ok to start with and replace as you use the color up and do more stuff. The brand is Reeves and it is an 18 piece set in a bright pink or fuchsia box. It will be near their paint supplies, but not with the tubes of paint usually. I got mine with their 40% off coupon, so it was under $10. But I think it is normally like $15. If you need more help with this set, let me know :)
From the link you gave me, yes. Those are the paints I have. The person who heads the scribal guild said they are kinda cheap but good enough to start with. That way when I get more practice and use them up, I can replace them with better paints.
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