Mackenzie Scrolls

emailed Lord Ryan Murdoch Mackenzie early one week to talk to him about cutting some gem stones for me.  We were to meet at Swine and Roses to discuss the commission.  He had an AoA that needed illumination, and I had a bag of (uncut) pretty rocks, so we were going to trade our time for the finished products.   A day later Serendipity saw that I was assigned the scroll for his elevation to the Order of the Silver Oak. 

    This was my first attempt at this 16th Century Italian style.   My many thanks go to TH Lady Eibhlin ni Chaoimh who does this form of illumination with grace and style.  She has a wonderful webpage regarding it's technique which I highly recommend.  I used her examples and instruction as my guide and laid out the piece in a manor I felt fitting.   I was quite happy with the results, and Ryan loved it. 

    Below are some step by step pictures of it's creation.  I was working on a short deadline for this one during a *very* busy week and had to force myself to take breaks.  Taking the breaks gave me benefits that I wasn't expecting.  I was able to step back and evaluate how the piece was coming on a more conscious level, and it allowed me to become more aware of how much time I take in each process.  This work was created in Gouache on Bristol with a ferrogallic ink.

You can visit the Mackenzie family at www.mackenziegems.com

to see other pieces I've done for this couple click on the link bars below.

[ Ryan's AOA ] [ Rebekah's Willow ] [ Ryan's Willow ]

This image shows the illumination as a pencil rough with almost finished calligraphy.  There was about 3 hours of work at this point.  I was continually giving myself pep talks throughout.

Here the calligraphy is finished and all the large blocks of colour have been laid in.  The purple block across the top alone took me an hour to paint.   End time to this point  6 hours.

Next I added the smaller colour blocks. After 8 hours of working with this piece I was at the point in which I knew that the was all going to come together the way in which I wanted.

The finished product!! My last task was to add the shading on the acanthus and gems, and painting in the Order's badge.  My total time at the bench was 10 hours.  This is one of the few pieces which I've created that looked like the original image in my mind's eye.  I am very, very pleased and hope that it has many happy years hanging on Ryan's wall. :-)