The History of the Kingdom of The West
Scrolls

Not Quite Yet...

Photo and Contribution
by Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

Not Quite Yet...
A close-up of the miniature with the border.

It's always amazing how much something changes once the surroundings are painted in, which is why I try not to form any concrete opinions about a piece before it's finished. While the border had improved with tendrils and gold flibberty-gibbets all over it, there was a lot of silver in places due to the clustering of leaves and it looked a little too harsh. Out came the paint brush one last time and some leaves were painted green, some lighter green brushed over the onions and garlic bulbs, and a little gold paint was laid over the harsh blue of the larkspur blossoms (see photo of the completed scroll with seals). That balanced things well.

Off the scroll went to Cynagua Winter Investiture, where the Vesper Herald signed and sealed the piece. As soon as Eilis signed it with white paint, I put in her title and free-handed some line-enders to fill up the space to the right. Once the white paint dried, the signature and title were over-painted with silver and the line-enders were painted with gold. Done!

Aricia couldn't attend Investiture and was home recovering from the 'flu, so Garth and I drove over to her place and delivered the freshly-signed scroll right into her hands. Safe! But the Curse of the Black Horus wasn't quite through with me yet...

"Wow!" Aricia said. "You didn't have to use EVERY herb in those pictures I gave you -- I just gave you a bunch so you could choose a nice one to use in the border."

Now she tells me. Instead of working up thirty-odd different plants, I could have just made a border of larkspur and lavender, or hops and lions-tooth, or yellow flag and roses, or just foxglove. Ha-ha, Chernovog, the last laugh's on you.

I could do this better the next time (smaller size font, going over the letters with silver paint enlarged them and encroached on the negative space between the lines of the text), but there won't be a next time because I'm never going to do the Black Hours style again. It is just not my cup of tea, it pushed me in every respect, and I hated every miserable moment of it. But she liked it, which was what made it all worthwhile.

Here endeth Tatiana's "black period." -- Tatiana Nikolaevna Tumanova

The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).