Level:  Kingdom of Atenveldt (awarded on Saturday, 25JUN22)

Paint:  Winsor & Newton Gouache

Pen & Ink:  Parallel Pen (modified) 2mm – black, Micron archival ink pen for some outlining and fine detail work.

Illumination:  23 carat gold

Paper:  Arches Natural White Watercolor hot-press paper, 640 gsm/300 lbs

Time: Approximately 50 hours

Inspiration:  The Alphonso Psalter https://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2011/07/the-alphonso-psalter.html

Problems Encountered: I am trying to move away from Perg and use paper that is more conducive to real gold, gouache, and gesso sticking to it. I thought the scroll went really well through the entire process. The flat gold did pick up more of the paper texture than I wanted and it did make calligraphy a bit of a challenge since I had to press on the pen harder to get the ink to flow properly. I need to look for a less textured paper. As with any paper other than vellum or perg, scraping must be done with care since it will be unforgiving.