English, 14th century

Here is the line drawing, and here is the painting.

This is based on the Luttrell Psalter, a 14th century English work. The book is written in a gothic style peculiar to the English; I used the same style in the work. You will be able to see some of the writings, as well at the atypical method of decorating initials, in the color sample above. The most distiguishing feature of this particular gothic is the flat feet of the letters; most gothic alphabets terminate at the line with a flick upward or a diamond-shapped foot, or some such. This English alphabet terminated at the base line by being squared-off. It is a trick, and requires some nimble pen manipulation to do it.

Materials used:

• 4-ply Bristol board
• Higgins waterproof drawing ink (India ink)
• Ultramarine blue pigment with gum Arabic binder
• Sequin gold pigment with gum Arabic binder
• The following commercially-prepared gouache: cadmium yellow medium, vermilion, bleedproof white, green lake

Tools were:

• Ruling pen
• Ruler
• Rolling ball pen w/ black ink
• Size 7 round brush
• Size 3/0 round brush
• Size 1/2" flat brush
• Mechanical pencil
• Plastic eraser

The procedure for this was quite easy. After the drawing and calligraphy was done, I first painted the base colors (blue, vermilion, yellow, and green) into the appropriate areas, primarily with the size 7 round. However, I used the 1/2" flat to paint in the long, straight sections along the lines; a flat, turned so that the length of the brush is parallel with the line you will be following, follows itself beautifully (i.e., the brush hairs all follow the same path). Round brushes tend to vary much more. To do the "tracery" around the first initial in the calligraphy, I first drew the outlines of the pattern in pencil and then used the 3/0 brush. In future, however, I'll use a toothpick for dots. Anyway, once the paint dried, I erased the pencil lines, leaving the dot pattern. I then used the 3/0 brush to apply most of the white decoration in the flat areas; however, I did use a ruling pen and ruler to put in the long, straight white lines on the bar. This makes a perfect straight line. When everything was dry, I re-outlined the illumination with the rolling ball pen. Viola!

The reference for the image came from The Luttrell Psalter by Janet Backhouse.

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Copyright 1998, Elise (Elyse) C. Boucher.