Level:  Kingdom

Paint:  Winsor & Newton Gouache

Pen & Ink:  I attempted to use 24k shell gold but it did not flow out of the nib correctly so I ended up painting the entire calligraphy portion with a brush size of 0 round.

Illumination:  24k gold both shell and leaf.  Gesso used was Instacol.

Paper:  Stonehenge, black, 250gsm.  From a medieval calligraphy stand point, I was not happy with this paper because you can only do so much scrapping before you scrape away too much paper (unlike perg or vellum).  But…having paper that is already black, as opposed to painting or dying (rubbing ink) all over the paper, is really great to use.

Inspiration:  None

There were a few additional things I intended to do with this scroll but I ran out of time due to my own laziness and depression.  Am I happy with it?  Somewhat…but more out of an artist is never happy with their own work since they see the mistakes and flaws.  Did I learn something or advance my own artistry?  Yes.  I was going to introduce something that I will not mention here for fear of someone stealing my idea and presenting it before I can.  I developed a “new” (as in new to me and I figured out on my own) technique for laying down the sheet gilding.