A Laurel for Judith

When I was asked if I would do the Laurel scroll for Judith I knew instantly what design I would use for it. The hours of Maria von Burgund, Wien cod  1857 14v. It was perfect for her. I took the elements of the page and made them the main drawing, then I filled in the glass with a pair of dancers and the rest is the space for the text. All of this is free hand, no tracing at all. The text is fairly simple, at this time there were not very meany people writing their own texts and as I was still fairly green I stuck with what I could find that was established.

Now I would deal with the text part very differently but at the time I lacked the skill set and the experience to do it the way it probably should have been done so there's more white space than I like and the capital letters lack the bling they should have had. I am thrilled with how the glass turned out as well as the stained glass effect of the two dancers.

The book says: Bridet me fecit in Bedano on a very wet day with lots of thunder and lightening.  I remember the day very well because there is nothing quite like creating art while the world around you shakes and quakes. The thunder storms in Ticine, Switzerland were amazing. Yes I actually spelled Bridget wrong. (there is a mistake on every single one of my scrolls somewhere though usually I am able to scrape it off and fix it but I missed this one) The little black splodge is supposed to be a crow but it's TINY.

I tried to fit this scroll to her persona and style. I wanted to do something elegant and understated but meaningful and beautiful.

I wasn't there when it was given out but a week later a lovely, hand written thank you card showed up in the mail. This card is still posted on my magnet board where I can see it when i work on scrolls, reminding me that the work is not always taken for granted or forgotten.