gold leaf – Page 4

The Flies – final version

I’ve just finished with my version of the text from The Flies by Jean-Paul Sartre.

You can see the whole work by clicking here.

As it is quite long, one cannot really see anything on this pic, that’s why I took close-ups :

The Flies

A long time ago, I did a draft using bits of the text The Flies by Jean-Paul Sartre.
I eventually find the energy to get back to it, here are a few pics of the work in progress.

not really

I told you recently about an embossing I intented to use within a calligraphic work, here is the result.

I’m not happy with it… at all. I’ll have to try something else.

All coaches will tell you that when nothing works, you have to go back to basics.
So here is a new flower, a pattern of my own composition that I have already practiced a number of times.
It is 5 cm in diameter, on handmade paper, gilding with gold leaf, alizarin lacquer and gum arabic for the background, iron gall ink for the filigree

I’m not unhappy with the result, it gives me confidence to start working on new compositions and I needed it because of my last drafts!

The flies

A draft, made a long time ago.
These are selected bits from the play Les Mouches by Sartre. I used different gothic scripts for the different characters.
The obvious things to do for the final version are :

use a paper a little better than this one
remove the red versals, stay in monochrome + gold, maybe insert some cadels instead
revise the script used for Orestes and Electra
add a few more lines
and do it all on a paper big enough to have only one column!

If all goes well, the final version will be released this summer.

Monochromatic flower

A new version of the flower pattern I invented, based on filigrees.

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).

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 🙂

Tag: gold leaf