Okay, so this assignment was a bit out of my comfort zone for multiple reasons. First, I hadn’t done a scroll like this before (fencing or late period!) and I didn’t have a lot of information about the recipient so I kind of had to guess what he would like. (Quick aside: go make an EK Wiki please if you don’t have one already! Save a scribe! Go go go!)
Anyway, what I knew about this gentle was he is Norse and a fencer and lives in the southern region which is… not as much information as I would like. I asked around and received a lot of “I’ll get back to you” or “I think I might know of him but…” responses until I finally got a hold of Master Malcolm (which is where I should have started because he was listed on the assignment. Whoops.) He was amazing and wrote me words and I eventually decided to go with the German fencing manual, Joachim Meyers Fäktbok (MS A.4°.2)
The not-so-good: I think I could have used a bit more contrast in my piece. It took me awhile to put words to what didn’t look quite right. I think I could have used less diluted paint and that would have worked.
The good: I really enjoyed painting this piece and doing the calligraphy. It was an absolute delight to work on. And although there are some small things I will try to improve on for the next piece, I’m overall happy with how it came out.
Materials: Walnut ink and watercolor on bristol
Words: Master Malcolm Bowman
Source: Joachim Meyers Fäktbok (MS A.4°.2)
Eclectic Embla 