Aaradyn's Brush: Vellum Dragon

I started on this out of two desires - one, to paint for myself and two, to use some of the real vellum that's in my stash.

The Original, with ruler for scale

This piece is what came of those thoughts: taken from Yates Thompson MS 13, f.186.v is a page containing a really interesting dragon. It's a sort of "monster at the end of this book" as this book of hours is an excellent example of descriptive marginalia. There are monsters and grotesques throughout the book - this dragon features in a few panels, being fought or slaying people and animals, but here is shown in it's full body and "glory" with wings open and jaw agape.

The style here is French, 14th century, featuring the blues, reds, and pinks we recognize from the century. In this piece, the gold around the lettering is possibly shell gold. The gold that used to be in the bar at the bottom was likely leaf. I will be using leaf for my piece, although I've never used gold leaf on vellum before. It's part of the challenge I set myself with this piece.

My piece is done on a scrap of vellum I purchased at Guild Mirandola. It is nearly 1:1 with the original, and so no modifications for scale were made between the two. I used a light box to get a rough sketch on the vellum, and then finished the drawing by eye. I have decided that I need a finer lead pencil - I'm using a .07 lead and it's too thick.

Day 1: Pencil and Ink

Day 1: penciled

Day 1:inked

My hand is far heavier for the inking than the original artists was. I'm wondering if some of that will be "taken care of" through the process of painting - just adding the gold has already diminished some of the black ink. I'm using a very fine point nib but I'm thinking perhaps the ink was thinner than the Higgins Eternal I used to line this.

I've been speaking with other calligraphers about ink, and came to find out that I was happier with Higgins Eternal when I'd left it out and open for a day or two. I decant a small amount into a wider mouth, more shallow container for my "working ink" and I have a tendency to forget to close it. Turns out that's about the same consistency as Pelikan ink straight from the container. I could be wrong though, and the lines they laid were as dark and stark as mine. I'll wait to make a decision till the end of the project.

Day 2: Gilding and Base layer Paint

Day 2: gilded

Day 2: painting, base layers

The gold here is two different kinds: The bar beneath the dragon is leaf applied with minatum cut 1:1 with water. It's my first ever attempt in using gold leaf on vellum, and I don't think it's too bad all told. I still have trouble getting the edges crisp. I think this is because I'm not doing an even application of minatum. The other gold areas are gold gouache to simulate shell gold. I'm currently out of shell gold, but have enough gold leaf bits that I'm ready to make my own. I'll be doing that later this summer and will do a post on that as well.

Color!
I have, in the past, done scrolls in a mid 14th century style and so I have those colors mixed already. I tend to work from cake, that is, I work from gouache that has dried. I rehydrate it, mix with a small palette knife to the desired consistency, and then paint. I get to a point of "like heavy cream" and start painting there. It flows better and dries evenly so you don't see the brush strokes. My gouache is from Winsor Newton and Holbein.

At this point I had to remove the upper right hand tape - the goal is to make it look like it was cut out of the book, and so my painting and calligraphy will go right to the edge of the page. When I display this it will be on a piece of acid free mat board in a frame without glass and using clear photo corners to hold it in place. I will also employ a clear piece of acid free film in a small stripe across the center of the piece as it bows quite fantastically.

One thing I'm noticing as I work on this is something that I think a lot of scribes notice - our pieces look very new compared to the extant pieces. I'm not sure there's a way to get around that easily, because frankly our pieces are new. The colors are fresh and bright and exciting - the gold is shimmery and has no touch of age. We scribes love our extant books, the weathered pages and colors peeking out from behind decades of dust and use and god knows what on them. By contrast our pages don't always look "right" to our eyes. (or at least, to my eyes).

I'm giving the paint a full day to dry between applications because I'm working on vellum and I'm not 100% on how long I should let each set. It's possible I don't really need to wait this long between sections - I'm also aware that I have physical limitations and can only work for so long before my wrist hurts, so in an effort to not overdo it and re-injure myself, I'm taking my time.

Day 3: Whitework

I started on my whitework, first testing out my paint on a scrap piece of perg to see what the consistency was like. I’m getting better at my wetting down from cake. I’m still hesitant when I’m doing my whitework, and I think that shows here.

I was fairly happy with my whitework, but was hoping that I’d get good feedback at Coronation. I did! Nataliia gave me some excellent advice and I think my work here improved. I’ll be better able to apply her notes on my next piece.

Day 4: The Dragon

The dragon is finally done. It was hard color matching the skin tone, and my coloring turned out a little more yellow than the original. I am no unhappy about this, I think it works. The linework I’ve been working on has really paid off here, and the scaling and markings on the wings are very close to the original.