*sigh of relief*

[rivendellrose]

I survived being Seneschal of the College of Saint Bunstable for a year, and successfully passed on the job to the next victim leader, who I know will do a great job.

More importantly, the College survived my being Seneschal. No, I jest... barely. ;)

Seriously, the next time I raise my hand for a position that actually involves me a) doing paperwork and b) coordinating with a bureaucracy, someone please slap me. Or at least remind me of what a disorganized twit I am. But it worked out well! I don't officially step down until the end of July, but I've gotta say that I'm relieved, and very much looking forward to having the spare braincells to devote to SCA things that I really feel are my place in the society - like scribal work.

Looking at the Madrone Domesday book pages really made me aware of how much progress I've got left before I'm worth anything in this art. I want to do that kind of work, badly, and so I've decided that this summer I will buy the proper supplies for myself, and create at least a few illuminated pages on my own, as a way to practice the art. I want to do them in at least somewhat-period style, but one of the projects I want to do is a passage from either the Silmarillion or the Lord of the Rings, and then the other is a piece from either the Havamal or Voluspa. For the LotR thing, I'm considering the two trees from the Silmarillion, with an associated passage, possibly a bit about Earendil (maybe with the original poem in Old English in addition to text from the Sil? Or possibly something about Varda, or the Rohirrim. I know, lots of possibilities. Hell, maybe even the first page of the Hobbit.

It'll all depend on what I come up with when I start sketching, I expect. But I'm really looking forward to trying it out.

Edit: Oh, and in case anyone was curious, here's my contribution to the College of Saint Bunstable's pages for the Domesday Book. It's our heraldic achievement - The shield displays our device, flanked by a rabbit (bunny for Bunstable) and a husky(ish wolf) (the UW's mascot). Purple and gold are the university colors as well as the college's colors, the star above the helm is in reference to the UW's seal, as are the pillars, which also refer to our "four pillars," repeated in the motto. The bottom bit of text is the 'blazon' of our arms, and the red tree holding up our shield symbolizes the Barony of Madrone, which is what our little college is supported by. It looks a lot more choppy than I'd wanted it to, but it's not too bad for my first piece of completely original page of illumination.

And, to show how far I have to go, here are the pages that show how it really ought to be done. That's the Barony of Madrone's finished pages.

Comments

[ellid.livejournal.com]

That's a *very* nice first piece - much better than mine (I have a somewhat loose style, and I'm not all that terrific an illuminator). The ones in the actual Domesday are *amazing* - who's working on them, the local Laurels? Wow.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Just from looking at the names on the list for the Madrone pages, there's quite a few I know are laurels, our current and one previous baroness... They're a pretty amazing group, from the names I know. I'm proud to be part of Madrone - we've got a lot of really talented folks in the larger populace.

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, I'm flattered by all of this positive response - I and my crew worked really hard. I wanted to interject a couple of things...

The Bunstable pages are as much a part of the "actual Domesday" as the Madrone pages. I especially like the wolf-like way the husky is depicted.

The bulk of the Madrone pages work was done by non-Laurels; the Laurel who helped us the most is recognized mostly for her skills in research rather than scribal arts (although she painted too, with a big grin on her face!). It really was an effort of the populace.

I think it's a common mis-perception that high quality scribal work is only the product of the Laurel community, and as a result I think novice scribes get intimidated. What I'm trying to say is high-quality pages are the result of time and effort, and reachable by anyone willing to put in that time and effort, whether or not they have been recognized as part of a peerage.

So I'd like to encourage you to keep pursuing your scribal work... from what I've seen, you're already 'worth something in this art'.

Here are two great books that might help you when it's time to do your next project:
"The Illuminated Alphabet" by Noad & Seligman, ISBN 1-56138-458-5 which is a great reference for techniques.

"A History of Illuminated Manuscripts" by De Hamel, ISBN 0-7148-3452-1 which is a great overview of period manuscripts.

Good luck with your future scribal efforts.

Annisa Gabrielli, Madrone Domesday Book butler (and scribe!)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, Annisa, for the corrections and the encouragement both - scribal work is definitely a bit intimidating (mostly because of all the beautiful work that gets put out!), but I'm hoping to do a fair amount of work on it this summer, and crossing my fingers that I'll be able to take on more volunteer work for the barony, too, now that my term as seneschal is up.

I'll also definitely be looking into both those books - they sound like exactly the kinds of resources I need!

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

It turned out so beautiful! Congratulations!

"Seriously, the next time I raise my hand for a position that actually involves me a) doing paperwork and b) coordinating with a bureaucracy, someone please slap me. Or at least remind me of what a disorganized twit I am."
I did try to discourage you from becoming Seneshal, until you were done with school, if you remember, not because I didn't think you could handle it, just thought you didn't need the extra stress. But you handled it all just fine!
Congratulations on your first piece, AND on your year as Seneschal!!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Yeah, I know. I'm glad it worked out. Wheee!!

[pandorasbox.livejournal.com]

here is to quitting offices. I step down in October as Chatelaine & boy am I ready. So is Darian now Senechal?

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yay! I can't imagine all the work you guys do at the baronial level - even in the college, it seems like a hell of a lot, sometimes.

Yup, Derian's Seneschal, we did the paperwork last night. It won't really be official until Lionhearts, but it's at least paperwork-official. ;)

[sablebadger.livejournal.com]

Try Kingdom level sometime...

:)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I've seen it from a distance, it's not pretty. Me, I think I'll stick with painting things. *g*

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Very nice. Very shiny too. ^_^ Where'd you scan it by the way? ... I hope you didn't sneak into my room at night to use my scanner! ^_~

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I didn't at all, actually - Eleanor, the woman who's been organizing the project, scanned all the pages. Or maybe it's digital photos, I'm not sure. Either way, she told us last night that the pics were up on the website, so naturally I had to go check it out. *g*

[erynn-lasgalen.livejournal.com]

That's so cool! How long did it take you, in the end? Really well done!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I didn't keep a huge amount of track, but it probably took... let's see, probably around ten hours, all told? Thanks! I'm pretty proud of it as a starting point.