About February, I got tugged in to a group message on Facebook. A dozen or so scribes were included, and a dear friend was to receive his Silver Crescent at Black Rose. However, due to the quick turn around, his wife was concerned about his having a scroll done. It didn’t take long, and a suite of volunteers to make it happen…well…happened. With Mistress Aneleda Falconbridge to craft words, and Master Alexandre St. Pierre to handle calligraphy, it left me with the illumination. As I was driving the piece, I crafted my concept.
I spoke with his wife, and though Thomas’ persona is Scottish, we felt his love for dragons was superior. So I began hunting exemplars with dragons in them. It didn’t take long, and I found these pages from The Prayer Book of Charles the Bold (MS 37) by artist Levien van Lathem held in the Getty Museum.
For the briefest of moments, I considered blowing these images up to use. And then…then I decided I was going to do them as true to size as I could. That meant 12.4 × 9.2 cm (4 7/8 × 3 5/8 in.). There’s no doubt I had a moment is panic there. But I put faith in Mistress Aneleda and Master Alexandre to help make this work. 106 words later, Mistress Aneleda had provided Master Alexandre the text to fit in those tiny blocks where the portraits reside.
Then came the layout to surround the calligraphy. The words were handed off with 2 weeks to go before the event. I was pretty confident I could get this sorted out. Originally, I had planned to ship it with others who were attending, and in the week prior, Edmund and I decided we would day trip the event and surprise the recipient in person. (Worth it.)
I started by drafting one of the dragons on a piece of 4×6 inch bristol to make sure I could get the colors right, and also that I could actually paint the figures before I went hog wild. The draft dragon found a home with a friend who fell in love with it when I posted it on Facebook. It was gifted to him the same day as Thomas got his scroll, and I was glad I was able to do that for him.
Then came all the painting. There was no logic to this painting. I started by completing one full dragon so I would feel accomplished about the scroll before I got down and dirty. I also completed Thomas’ arms pretty early on. I knew I would have to free hand that dragon, as he was TINY. In order to get the gold to explode off the page, I painted the quarterly, then added a base of white where the dragon would sit, so he would stand out. This was a good choice. I’m not sure gold on top of the green and black would have worked well in the end.
In the end, I had a scroll I was immensely proud of. Acanthus leaves are still weird, but I think these ones turned out okay, all things considered. And getting to see the reaction of people in person was so worth it. This was my “breakthrough” scroll. I had done some previously I was happy with, but this was the “Ah hah!” moment which confirmed to me I could do art. And moreover, I could do art for art’s sake. Not as service. It set a bar.
Paper: Natural Pergamenata
Paint: Holbein Gouache, Winsor & Newton Gold Gouache
Gold Leaf: 23k transfer
Words: Mistress Aneleda Falconbridge
Calligraphy: Master Alexandre St. Pierre
Illumination: Baroness Audrye Beneyt
Process photos of the scroll can be found in the slideshow below:
The Voice of Audrye Beneyt 
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