This award scroll was requested for a protégé and friend by her mentor. I was honored to be asked to do this for her. I also had a very close inside source to help with personalizing her scroll!
The recipient had held the position of exchequer at many levels from local all the way up to kingdom – she was the main “money counter”. Her persona is German, and her mentor snuck me photographs of some,of her collectibles, especially adorable troll, dragon and wizard figurines. She also requested inclusion of a beloved cat who had passed on but will always be a large piece of the recipient’s heart.
What would befit such a wonderful person? I thought of a painting by Quentin Matsys in 1514 called The Money Lender (or Changer) and His Wife. Most important in the painting for my purpose is the main tool of his trade, a scale.
Now to add realism…I had only two photographs of her kitty, and one was with him mostly facing away in profile. The other was a dark frontal view that required a bit of adjustment to get details…thank goodness for modern photo apps!
The idea of her cat, nestled smugly on a treasure of coin and jewels appealed, along with a very chagrined dragon looking on who SHOULD have that hoard! At the base of the scale her troll and wizard sleep, balanced and holding up the scale as a decoration. The beam is held in place by her heraldry, topped by a carved wooden Pelican in her Piety, the symbol of this award.
The dragon is cobbled from reality, using the wings of a bat and the body of an adorable lizard from Africa often called an Oroborous Lizard.
I wanted to make the pile of gold pop, and so created a fairly thicker gesso that would create depth with a 3-Dimensional perspective as the scroll was viewed. Gesso, once dried, will burnish, or polish, to an amazing mirror shine that, when gold leaf is applied dazzles the eye.
The Pelican in Her Piety was from a wood carving I had found online from the Scottish National War Museum. Unfortunately, that link no longer exists on their site so that is the extent of obtainable history. I wanted to recreate it as a wooden finial – no gold – atop the main bar of the scale, positioned above her heraldry.
On the bottom, I place “decorations” on the scale – a troll and a wizard, modeled on the sneaky photos from her mentor of ones that were in the recipient’s home.
Her figurines and a sleeping troll covered in his tail and a sleeping wizard, glowing magical spell in hand.
The background is pergamenata, the dragon and cat with gold are on parchment, cut out and applied to the pergamenata for layering. I used gouache for paint, with homemade gesso and gold leaf for the raised gold and the Coliro mica for flat fill. I also used the mat board to lend further dimension to the scale.
Philomene’s Scriptorium 