Since Amphelise is both a writer and Insulae Draconis's chronicler, I really wanted to have a woman writing. I also wanted to push the limits of my skills by doing another human figure, which I am generally very scared of.
I spent an evening searching through digitised MS sites trying to find depictions of women writing -- and I collected them on twitter; the thread starts here:
Starting off with MSs from @MorganLibrary. For every five images of Troilus writing Cressida, you get one vice versa (MS M.0371 fol. 017v): pic.twitter.com/L11WJCMzy0
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) July 25, 2017
Amusingly, the image I ended up settling on to copy did not actually have a woman in it. The exemplar image is from a Paris MS of the Roman de la Rose from c1340, and depicts Jean de Meun writing. The image was simple enough, and I could already see how to turn him from a man into a woman, that I figured I'd give it a go.
The entire scroll took 6.5 hours, and again I documented it in half-hour stages on twitter, up until the point where there would be spoilers:
Moving WAAAAAY outside my comfort zone with this new project. This is 30 minutes in. pic.twitter.com/xq59L4MrU8
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) July 27, 2017
1 hour in. Yes, it took me a full half an hour to ink this, and erase part of what I'd drawn before... pic.twitter.com/Jek911ggji
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) July 27, 2017
1.5 hours total. Time to stop for the night. pic.twitter.com/GugvAYBfmf
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) July 27, 2017
It's not often I decide I really don't like something I've done. But this warranted a bit of "erasing". (2 hours total). pic.twitter.com/kAXUvbsi3N
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) July 31, 2017
These half-hour episodes of the BBC Chronicles of Narnia make timekeeping easy. Time for a cuppa. (2.5 hours total.) pic.twitter.com/WbjzGIBc5o
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) July 31, 2017
I keep telling myself, "it will get better when the whitework is done. It will get better when the whitework is done". (3 hrs.) pic.twitter.com/c3MxtHoVry
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) July 31, 2017
The borders worked much better the 2nd time around. Time to put down the gold size, I think. (3.5 hrs.) pic.twitter.com/L17Ry1m4Wd
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) July 31, 2017
Tomorrow, all that yellow will become gold. (Ignore the white square; I screwed up, but took photo before fixing it.) (4 hours total) pic.twitter.com/9vjovBWeSj
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) July 31, 2017
Nothing makes you feel rich like all the excess gold you get when gilding. (4.5 hours total.) pic.twitter.com/5YQqxkawEy
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) August 1, 2017
So, I've reached the bit way outside my comfort zone: draping.
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) August 1, 2017
It's....okay so far. (5 hours total) pic.twitter.com/nNRDXSlsbn
And this is the last photo before it is given to its recipient, so as to not spoil the surprise. (5.5 hours total.) pic.twitter.com/f0Xfi4o4KY
— Sara L. Uckelman (@SaraLUckelman) August 1, 2017
The text reads:
Haec verba Ianici et Alane principes Insulenses sunt:
Cause it to be known to all that Amphelise de Wodeham is made a member of the Order of Ffraid.
I was SO SO pleased when people other than me were able to identify the lady as Amphelise! Here's a few close-ups
© 2017, Sara L. Uckelman.
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