art

Art

SCA Scribal Illumination

Renaissance Faire Favors

Christmas Card Series

Women of the Bible Series

Other

SCA Scribal Illumination

In late 2007, I joined the Society for Creative Anachronism. The scribes in the society paint medieval/renaissance illuminated manuscript designs, and then they add award text in calligraphy. Awards are presented by royals at court. I have begun painting scroll blanks for my kingdom and am learning calligraphy so that I can begin to complete scroll assignments on my own.

	First scroll - December 2007 - Inspired by an example illumination of flowers curled around a pole. Grapes were based on sketching in the book.
Scroll 2 - December 2007 - based on samples provided in new scribe class packet from Lord Henry of Exeter.
	Scroll 3 - February 2008 - based on Codex Manesse, a book of art from Germany in 1300s.
Scroll 4 - February 2008 - based on art in book "How to Paint Illuminated Letters"
	Scroll 5 - April 2008 - based on internet artwork (my fault for not noting the address that I got the knight art from) and example edgework by Isabel of Keniston
Scroll 6 - April 2008 - this design is based on one in the packet I got from Henry of Exeter. The frame looks brownish here but was actually a shiny gold watercolor.
	Scroll 7 - May 2008 - I wanted to create a design that incorporates the Middle Kingdom device. The crown on the shield is painted in the shiny gold watercolor, which I love.
Scroll 8 - August 2008 - this letter is a replica of a design done in the year 845 for a copy of the book of Romans from the Bible. I found this in the book "A History of Illuminated Manuscripts," by Christopher de Hamel.
	Scroll 9 - September 2008 - this is based on a page from a French Book of Hours, circa 1490. It is also from the Christopher de Hamel book.

Renaissance Faire Favors

In 2007, I gave mini paintings to several friends as gifts/faire favors during renaissance faire season.

“The Bell” May 2007 Acrylic, 3”x4” This piece, based on a photo of the carillon played by artist Cast in Bronze at renaissance faires, uses color in an unusual way. As I began the piece, I was uncertain how I would handle the background, which was dim and dark in the original photo. As I worked, I reached a point where I realized that the colors, though not representative of the carillon’s true look, still made for an interesting and original piece. This piece was gifted to Frank DellaPenna
	“Piper Jones” April 2007 Acrylic, 4”x5” This return to sepia tone was based on a photo of renaissance faire performer EJ Jones that I took at an event in Arizona. This piece was gifted to EJ Jones
“William Fiddle” May 2007 Acrylic, 4”x5” This sepia tone piece is based on a photo of T.J. Hull that I took in 2006 at Stronghold Olde English Faire. This piece was gifted to T.J. Hull
	“Tower” April 2007 Acrylic, 3”x4” This painting was based on a photo I took of a castle-style building on the campus of Illinois State University. I added the low castle wall extensions and the dark windows to give it a more traditional castle look. There was a tree branching in front of the castle from the other side in the original photo. This piece was gifted to a friend from RenaissanceFestival.com
“Nighttime Tree” March 2007 Acrylic, 4”x5” This painting was my first after “Evening Tree.” I enjoyed the colorful sky and the tree silhouette in that piece so much that I had to try it again, this time at a later point in the night, with stars appearing through the branches at the top. This piece was gifted to Paul of On the Run Photography

Christmas Card Series

"Christmas Card 2001"

I scanned this image and printed it onto cards for my Christmas mailing in 2001. There are many images of Mary contemplating the sleeping baby Jesus; I wanted to reverse the expected. I used a magazine ad model for Mary and a baby photo of one of my siblings as Jesus.

"Christmas Card 2002"

I used another ad model for the shepherd. The sheep was modeled by a couple of pictures off the Internet. I first planned to draw angels in the sky, which matches the Biblical account. I eventually opted for the star (lifted from the account of the Magi), since a "host" (army) of angels would be severely
upstaged by the focus on the shepherd.

"Christmas Card 2003"

This Christmas card image was a last-minute replacement. I tried drawing an illuminated letter,

inspired by medieval artwork, but I was unhappy with the results. I used a photo of one of my siblings as the baby Jesus; with a simple halo, it made a pleasant design.

"Light of the World"
October 2004
Acrylic, 9"x12"

My goal was to create a painting that looked like stained glass. I'm not sure I succeeded, but I did enjoy this experiment. Some features - the nose bridge line running up and becoming an eyebrow and the baby's individual curls - were techniques I pulled from pictures of medieval stained glass designs.

Women of the Bible Series

"So When the Woman Saw that the Tree Was Pleasant to the Eyes"
October 1999
Acrylic, 16"x30"

I stretched this canvas and painted this portrait for a painting class at North Central College. I regret painting the cobra green; I wish I had stuck with my original idea, to make it a yellow and brown desert snake. Green was easier to accomplish in the time I had (simpler than a desert snake's pattern), but it is also cliched. The apple is suspended from the birch tree by a thread, emphasizing that it is being dangled as a temptation.

"But Mary Kept All These Things and Pondered Them in Her Heart"
November 1999
Acrylic, 20"x20"

This painting was also for the class, and I also stretched the canvas. Mary is modeled on a woman in a Hennessey ad, and the color of the sky came from a Christmas ad for the Family Christian Store. As always, one of my siblings' baby pictures plays the part of baby Jesus. This painting kicked off my Christmas card series, serving as the design for my 2000 card.

"But His Wife Turned Back Behind Him and She Became a Pillar of Salt"
April 2001
Acrylic, 18"x24"

This was my first painting completed on my own post-college. My efforts to show the fire of Sodom and Gommorah reflecting on Lot's wife's face were largely unsuccessful; she looked like a carrot throughout most of the process. In the end, I settled for the contrast of light and dark. I have included the study sketch here. The bracelet on her upper arm eventually became a snake motif. Her "glove" is the beginnings of the salt traveling up her arm, and her "highlights" are strands of hair turning to salt.

Other

"Mary Rose"
February 2004
Acrylic, 6"x8"

With a smaller canvas and only sepia tones to work with, I spent more time playing with the textures and depth than worrying about backgrounds. The result is one of my favorite pieces.

"Self Portrait"
August 2001

This portrait is modeled on a black and white photograph that a friend took. My style tends to be realistic and literal - that is, if I’m drawing a face, you usually see the whole face. This was an experiment in letting just some features stand out on a blank background.

"Boys"
June 2000

This drawing combines two photographs. One boy was smiling in one photo, and the other was smiling in the other. By combining the two expressions, I came up with the image that I wish the camera had captured.

"John Bernard"
1995
Oil on canvas

This is one of my older pieces and was my first work in sepia tone. While I am not content with the likeness, I am very pleased with the eyes. I quickly fell in love with the sepia look and have used it several times since.

"Evening Tree"
August 2006
Acrylic, 12"x16"

I am interested in working more with contrast, bright lights and extreme darks. I took a number of digital photos of trees against evening skies and used them as reference and inspiration for this piece.