decoration – Page 11

I love M

Another filigree initial and another M.
It seems that the people who commission me to write initials all have names beginning with the same letter.
A bit tired of using the Lombard form, I opted this time for an older form, inspired by the ms. 0202 of the Mazarine library (12th century).

Stained glass window

A few months ago, during a visit to Quimper, I was admiring the stained glass windows of the cathedral when the idea came up to use them for a composition.
So here is a first variation on the theme (I think there will be more).

Etched white vine

My latest engraving on zinc, this time with a brand new metal plate (not corroded).

The initial is 2cm high.

The result is not too bad but it needs more definition, the vine is much too simple and the varnish didn’t cover properly all the surface, not to mention that the lines are often quaking.

Nevertheless a good proof of concept.

XIIth century initials as XXIst works

Quite happy with the result produced by the combination of embossing and ink experimented on Julien Gracq’s text, I decided to reedit the experience with initials copied from XIIth century French manuscripts.
This time I used walnut stain instead of India ink and I find the result just as interesting, judge for yourself.

Know Thyself

… and thou shalt know the universe and God.

This phrase has been on my list of things to calligraph for several years. After several attempts at very different compositions, I think I have found what suits this phrase affixed to the pediment of the temple of the oracle at Delphi.

Of course, it’s the French version here 🙂