I really love youth awards (and the youth community in general.) Our camp has a lot of children and my partner grew up in the SCA so he has some of the youth awards himself. He has started helping some of the children along their own SCAdventures and we have worked together in organizing meetings for the youth and adults that grew up in the SCA. So, when I got assigned to do a Gawain award, the youth award for martial activities, I was pumped!
I didn’t know the recipient personally but, I did receive some information in the assignment. I learned that his persona is 14th century German / Anglo Saxon, he not only fights himself, but he also works with younger fighters to help them grow, he offers himself in service to the community, and that he is a teenager. I ended up choosing the Homilary, an early 14th century German manuscript that is currently held at the Walters Art Museum. I chose this piece because it appealed to me in style, one that I hadn’t done before, and I thought it would be nice for a young fighter type.
The not-so-good: I need to be more careful with my white work. The white, especially in his name, looks too bold to my eyes and I think takes away a bit from the overall piece. I have been working on finding ways to make my lines thinner and more delicate.
The good: I liked doing this piece, especially the little dragons. I put the Gawain garter within a gold box instead of a part of a capital to make it stand out more. I still think this was a good choice but my other thought was to make it into the G of Gawain and that would have been fun too. 🙂
Materials: gouache, gilding, walnut ink, and Calli red ink on bristol
Words: Olalla Tristana
Eclectic Embla 