Griffin in Pen and Water-colour

Griffin drawn on stretched 140 lb. Strathmore WC paper; outlined with black o.5 Micron pen, then coloured with a combination of Rembrandt Lyra, Staedtler and Inktense WC pencils .On 8x10 ( 20x25 cm)paper, the actual picture is somewhere around 5x7 (13x18 cm ) in size.

At this point, I"m not quite sure how to best approach his wings; but will be doing some spot touching-up with white gouache before preceeding further.... I"ve been told gouache is good for this...we shall see!

The uploaded scan is actually showing slightly blue shadowy sections not there IRL....think my "stretching' was not quite what it should be! No doubt will be turning it over to iron it out a little flatter after the work is finished!

Thought at first I"d try the gold metal-leaf on this; but might just stick to using gold acrylic paint, over the yellow back-grounds, and perhaps on his wing tips....Quite like the intensity of colour in this and don't want to over-do the brightness factor... a little seems to already be going a long way!

I love the faded, faianced ( sp)?  look to the original page, but I would think that this look was indeed, achieved by time....as originally created, and using fresh-minted materials I believe it must have been stronger in both tone and hue; somewhat as displayed here.

As the Bestiary Project is on through May, there's still plenty of time to try out the metal leaf on a third subject, m'thinks!

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=555617

It's interesting that as one looks at something a day or so after doing it, the mind notices things not seen before.....and , of course, changes !

Aberdeen Bestiary Griffin

To the left is the original Griffin portrayal, illustrated in late 12th Century Norman Britain.

It is in the collected manuscripts of the Aberdeen Bestiary of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

The second, seen above and to the right, is my transformation/"take", ( digitally manipulated in Photoshop Elements ) on it if it had been a brass or stone rubbing.

That meets one of the Project's set of self- challenges- to somehow "transform' one's chosen art-work .

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=555617

Posted on the Wet Canvas Artist Site ( linked above ) is the first step taken in meeting a self-challenge on using seldom-used or new-to-you- mediums. In my case, water-colour and ink are the seldom, and gouache and metal leaf are the new.....

When finished, I 'll upload here...

Bestiary Exchange Project

This is an ACEO that I created last year for an exchange . I chose to create a Bestiary - basically a collection of fantastical animal imagery with an accompanying description - of 24 mostly imaginary animals.

The Barnacle Goose legend is one that had been created during the Middle Ages by scribes who were perplexed by the migrating patterns of this particular real-life bird and created a fantastical story to explain it.

These birds supposedly grew on trees!

Starting out in a barnacle shape...any that dropped on the ground perished, and those lucky enough to drop into the sea survived to grow and prosper as geese !

Doing this project encouraged a further perusal of the subject of Medieval Bestiaries and Illuminated Manuscripts.

BESTIARY SELF-CHALLENGE PROJECT

I volunteered when the opportunity arose in the Classical Forum of the Wet Canvas Artist Site ( see Link ) to create and host a 2 month personal project-based study of the Medieval Bestiary. Go to the drop-down menu for Classical Art Forum and scroll down to the post : Medieval Bestiary Project: There be Dragons! http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=555617

It runs through April of this month, and May of the next.

There are already some entries ; if you are at all intrigued by this subject, please, do take a look at how some participants are interpreting it!

There is also an short link to an entertaining and profusely illustrated online museum presentation about the evolution of the Bestiary .

A Work in Progress

A Work in Progress all this month...and no doubt all the rest!