From: owner-scribes@castle.org (scribes digest) To: scribes-digest@castle.org Subject: scribes digest V2 #1279 Reply-To: Sender: owner-scribes@castle.org Errors-To: owner-scribes@castle.org Precedence: bulk scribes digest Wednesday, December 29 1999 Volume 02 : Number 1279 In this issue: [scribes]: Fresco and wall paintings Re: [scribes]: Gouaches... Re: [scribes]: Learning calligraphy ?? [scribes]: MSS. Exhibit in Cleveland!!! Re: [scribes]: MSS. Exhibit in Cleveland!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 12:03:57 -0600 From: Mary Haselbauer Subject: [scribes]: Fresco and wall paintings This discussion of wall painting and frescos has dislodged something in my brain and I cannot rest until I share it. It's not really period but I was wearing garb at the time. During the afternoon at the Toys for Tots Tourney in Wyvern Cliffe, Calontir (Jefferson City, Missouri) two friends and I drove over to the capital building to look at some murals by Thomas Hart Benton. We wandered around (in garb) looking for the room with murals. We finally found this really nice lady who took us to the room and told us all about the murals. She never asked about our garb. Anyway, I asked about the medium for the walls. She said it was tempera and that Benton used 35 dozen eggs over the course of six months (in the summer in Missouri, that must have smelled nice.) Thirty-five dozen doesn't sound like nearly enough to me but I've never used tempera. How far does one egg go? Many thanks, Slaine The security guard thought we were nuns! HA! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 15:45:31 EST From: RenScribe@aol.com Subject: Re: [scribes]: Gouaches... In a message dated 12/28/99 2:53:08 PM, isolde26@hotmail.com writes: >I don't know if this question has been addressed here, but can you dilute >goache with the egg yolk and water mixture for egg tempera? Does this >question make any sense? > >Isolde Yes, your question does make sense.....and yes you can mix gouache with either egg yolk or glair. I often use gouaches instead of starting with a dry pigment for the same reason I use gouaches at all ... consistency of color and convenience. Mixing binders was a period practice too. You will get a slightly different paint than if you were mixing all egg yolk - glair - or gum arabic. From experience, I have found egg yolk tempera to be a soft paint and prone to smearing even when dry. In period it was not used in books because of this.... but if you mix in a little gum arabic, the paint sets harder and holds up to more abuse. I still prefer glair for book illumination, but sometimes use egg yolk on scrolls because I like the effect. If you're playing with egg yolk, make the other half of the egg into glair and experiment. Try straight binders and different combinations and proportions. Not only is it a good way to actually see and compare the results side by side, but it's a good way to kill an afternoon. :-) Eibhlin ni Chaoimh AEthelmearc ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 17:20:41 -0500 From: "Susan Carroll-Clark" Subject: Re: [scribes]: Learning calligraphy ?? Greetings! >What I'm wondering, what hands would you suggest for a basic beginner (I >learned a version of blackletter back in college (5 years ago) but have >forgotten most of it and can't find the full exemplar)? I would suggest Caroline miniscule, or maybe Uncial. I like Caroline because it's a miniscule script (e.g. upper and lower case letters) and is the basis for Gothic later on. Plus, you can make a few small changes and have Humanistic minuscule. >Are there any hints/tips for learning a new hand that make it easier to >pick up? Practice strokes, not letters, at least at first. Look at the width of the letters, the height of the hand, and the space between lines. If you get those right, even if your technique isn't quite perfect, your script will "look right." Nicolaa ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 18:05:59 -0500 From: Sally Burnell Subject: [scribes]: MSS. Exhibit in Cleveland!!! My mother and I went to the Cleveland Museum of Art today to view that Illuminated Manuscript exhibit I mentioned last week. My reaction? WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do yourselves a favour and next time y'all are in the Cleveland area, GO!!! It is so unbelievably WONDERFUL!! It was so overwhelming that I will need to go back and see it again - with a magnifying glass!! Some of the stuff is so tiny and delicate that it blows the mind! Those of you scribes will get so much better a sense of things seeing so many incredible examples of Illumination that perhaps it would behoove you to not only bring a magnifier, but a sketch book as well. I bought the catalogue to the exhibit, WELL worth the $30 it costs!! Although looking at the pictures isn't the same as standing in front of the MSS. themselves studying stuff like the layout, design, whitework, drolleries, gilding, stamping, diapering and other features of these pieces, still, it is nice to have it for exemplars to study when you go home from the museum! This is a STUNNING exhibit!! Simply breathtaking and gorgeous!! And while you are there, check out the rest of the museum. This is a World Class museum with one of the most distinguished Mediaeval collections in the world, including a marvelous armour court, for those of you martial types! I cannot recommend enough a trip to this museum! It's free, and the only thing you have to pay for is the parking. This exhibit lasts through February 27th, so make a point, if you live out of the area, of coming out here for an event before then and while you are here, if you have time, make a point to visit the Cleveland Museum of Art. Events in the area are: January 29th - "A Regular Event in Cleftlands" in Cleveland, OH and February 13th - "Masque of Courtly Love" in the Marche of Alderford, Canton, OH. Hope to see you there! YIS, Lady Saradwen Ariandalen Marche of Gwyntarian (Akron/Kent, OH) Midrealm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 15:29:57 -0800 From: Carolyn_Richardson@cch.com Subject: Re: [scribes]: MSS. Exhibit in Cleveland!!! So Saradwen, is the catalog available from the museum via mail order? Tetchubah of Greenlake, Caid (no way I'm getting to Cleveland any time soon). ------------------------------ End of scribes digest V2 #1279 ******************************