From: owner-scribes@castle.org (scribes digest) To: scribes-digest@castle.org Subject: scribes digest V2 #1639 Reply-To: Sender: owner-scribes@castle.org Errors-To: owner-scribes@castle.org Precedence: bulk scribes digest Saturday, June 17 2000 Volume 02 : Number 1639 In this issue: [scribes]: Re: better than the masters Re: [scribes]: Period capitalization Re: [scribes]: Re: better than the masters ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 22:03:25 EDT From: AMLeshinskie@cs.com Subject: [scribes]: Re: better than the masters In a weird coincidence, I recently read a brief article in a newspaper (I can't quite recall where) in a column about musicians and recorded music vs. live performances. The person being interviewed was complaining that recorded music has all the potential for perfection: sound studio, mixing, remixing, editing, multiple takes -- this makes audiences expect absolute perfection in live performances, because they expect everything to sound just like the album. How utterly unfair, not only to the performer, but to themselves. There is something wonderful and magical about a live performance; variations that some might call "mistakes" are part of the magic. For our scribal arts, seeing any work in which someone has invested time and effort is a treat to me. "Mistakes" and all, individual variation is part of what we do -- it's a fact on life, it's "real." Every time I have "copied" the work of a Master, I have infected it with something of my own style, but I have also learned something about that master's technique, simply by "walking in their shoes." In the modern world, we are much too used to seeing images that have been edited and retouched. An honest artisan's work, at that individual's best skill level, is often judged by the wrong standards. We're spoiled. Sometimes, just as THLady Saradwen Ariandalen said, we need to learn to see with medieval eyes, not eyes that grew up with cameras and photcopiers. (I love the books that include pictures of a calligrapher's or illuminator's "mistakes" and how the scribe or painter tried to conceal or correct the error. It makes me feel so much closer to them; I can sense the person behind the page. ) Aelfgifa of the Hazel Thicket Barony Beyond the Mountain Kingdom of the East (Connecticut) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 22:10:36 EDT From: Luiseach@aol.com Subject: Re: [scribes]: Period capitalization In a message dated 06/16/00 02:10:00 PM, nicolaa@columbus.rr.com writes: << My experiences are similar. I have never had royalty complain when I was doing something in a script that doesn't use capitalizations. Do what looks right. >> With Celtic hands, you can do words in red, or color in the counter spaces inside and around the letters with red, blue or green to give the word more emphasis. It also works well to use a fancier and very slightly larger form of the first letter. Luighseach ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 00:24:50 -0700 From: "corinna taylor/al frank" Subject: Re: [scribes]: Re: better than the masters To put a little more persepective on mistakes and perfection: Arrighi used to make "mistakes" *deliberately!* If he was coming up short when justifying his lines, he'd write an erroneous "i" and put a correction slash through it to add the necessary length rather than hyphenate. And some corrections make no attempt to conceal the error and are perfectly charming. In one manuscript, half a verse was omitted. The illuminator added a figure of a monk in the margin, He has one elongated arm reaching between the lines and pointing to where the missing verse belongs. In his other hand, he holds a fishnet aextending down to the bottom of the page and containing the missing half-verse, along with several fish. A hungry-looking cat eying the net completes the correction. And in the Book of Kells, in the qui fuits, there's a figure with his arms crossed oddly and pointing - I think he's saying "this name belongs up here." Corinna, who usually just plugs in the electric eraser Tree-Girt Sea - ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Friday, June 16, 2000 7:03 PM Subject: [scribes]: Re: better than the masters > In a weird coincidence, I recently read a brief article in a newspaper (I > can't quite recall where) in a column about musicians and recorded music vs. > live performances. The person being interviewed was complaining that > recorded music has all the potential for perfection: sound studio, mixing, > remixing, editing, multiple takes -- this makes audiences expect absolute > perfection in live performances, because they expect everything to sound just > like the album. How utterly unfair, not only to the performer, but to > themselves. There is something wonderful and magical about a live > performance; variations that some might call "mistakes" are part of the magic. > > For our scribal arts, seeing any work in which someone has invested time and > effort is a treat to me. "Mistakes" and all, individual variation is part of > what we do -- it's a fact on life, it's "real." Every time I have "copied" > the work of a Master, I have infected it with something of my own style, but > I have also learned something about that master's technique, simply by > "walking in their shoes." > > In the modern world, we are much too used to seeing images that have been > edited and retouched. An honest artisan's work, at that individual's best > skill level, is often judged by the wrong standards. We're spoiled. > Sometimes, just as THLady Saradwen Ariandalen said, we need to learn to see > with medieval eyes, not eyes that grew up with cameras and photcopiers. > > (I love the books that include pictures of a calligrapher's or illuminator's > "mistakes" and how the scribe or painter tried to conceal or correct the > error. It makes me feel so much closer to them; I can sense the person > behind the page. ) > > Aelfgifa of the Hazel Thicket > Barony Beyond the Mountain > Kingdom of the East > (Connecticut) ------------------------------ End of scribes digest V2 #1639 ******************************