Notes on technique: Rose Leaf scroll for Cynthia du Pré Argent
Size: 4x6, with borders of 1/4". The paper is Montval Aquarelle,
by Canson (acid-free, 140lb). I had come across this tiny watercolor
block in the art supply store, and was taken with the idea of doing something
with it; I decided to do a small scroll for my wife's Rose Leaf (which
had been given some two months earlier). She had said she didn't
really want scribe time spent on it when it could go to doing a backlogged
AoA; but I could hardly ask a stranger off the backlog to accept an experimental
microscroll. :-) I had learned the grid method of copying images
just a week earlier, and set about copying a picture of Cynthia for the
miniature at the base of the scroll.
Scribe:
François Thibault, 30 March XXXII to 31 May XXXIII (intermittently:
I did the preliminary sketch, and all the inking, on 30 March, the [imitation]
gold leaf on 1 April, and the painting 29-31 May). This is the third
scroll I started, the fourth I completed.
Calligraphy:
Hand: French Batarde (Drogin).
Nib: 1/2mm Brause
Line spacing: 5mm.
Ink: W&N Black Indian Ink.
The text may not be the standard West Kingdom Rose Leaf text; I copied
it from the promissory given out in court, but it doesn't match what's
in the handbook.
Illumination:
Vine border taken from various French examples.
Imitation gold leaf used for the earpiece (where, unfortunately, some
of it flaked off, which is why it has that blotchy look), the medallion
where the feather is mounted on the hat, and some of the leaves.
Outlining: 0.35mm Rotring Rapidoliner.
Paints: various gouaches; some W&N, some Gran d'Ache
The miniature of Cynthia is taken from a picture
taken at our wedding.
It's the first picture of a person I've done, so it doesn't look quite
like her (nor is it as flattering as if I knew how to draw, instead of
copy :-), but it's recognizable, and it shows the hat pretty well (which
was a major point--hats are Cynthia's primary art).
The leaves in the corners are, of course, meant to be rose leaves.
I picked the vine border because Cynthia had seen me do it for my first
scroll, and liked it; the miniature at the bottom goes where the arms went
in that scroll.