Where to begin with this one? The recipient’s wife advised me on this person’s passions which happen to exist between service and science fiction. While most would feel that this scroll is not “period appropriate” , I would beg to differ. I feel that this is a beautiful melding of old and new, personalized tradition that is unique to this individual.
Windmasters’ Kittyhawk is a cat with wings. It has gone through many many iterations, from something vaguely dragon-like to a current hissing representation created over a decade ago by our then-MoAS. With this knowledge comes freedom. I was able to play and make an outline drawing into a realistic winged cat. Therefore traditionally non traditional.
Next Sci-Fi. The recipient had varied interests including Star Trek (he’s a member of a RPG), Harley Quinn, Deadpool, and Firefly. How to fit these in? Science…astronomy….two things sprang to mind.
The first was the gorgeous awe-inspiring Astronomical Clock, aka the Orloj, which is located in Prague, in the Czech Republic. Created in 1410 by Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel with calendar dial, zodiac signs & the sculptures added around 1490. Below the photo is a link to a more recent article about its wonders and some new discoveries.
For my purposes, this was beautifully perfect. The colors are drool-worthy, the gold numerals and bars….and all of the dials and circles. This was created, as was the rest of the scroll, using gouache. The gold is 24k leaf over my raised gesso recipe.
Next was an exemplar that was advanced for its time, showing comments and other similar phenomena. I found a comet that fit the scene, including the background colors, forming in my head and suited my “Easter Egg” surprise within its center.
Inside of the center of the comet, visible only under a black light, is the USS Enterprise, taking off as the Kittyhawk watches.
Grasped within his tail is a key, the symbol of a seneschal as well as the key from the recipient’s heraldry.
Hanging from a branch is Jayne’s hat from Firefly. And finally, tucked into the crevice at the bottom of the tree is an escapee from the ship, a Tribble.
The scroll is gouache on pergamenata, gesso and gold leaf.
This had a few challenges ….it was my second scroll writing over gouache, and never this thick…it worked for the most part. I had originally thought to use a white ink, but it looked horrible and had to be redone along with a portion of the background. The clock face angles, colors and keeping proportion was a test as was creating the spaceship…in the dark with a black light shining on the page as I put down the ink.
This scroll brings me joy….it’s a story being told in front of your eyes, with mysterious clues and secrets.
Philomene’s Scriptorium 