P is for Poet

Full title is "P is for Poet with an Unimpressed Owl." The figure and ornamentations are based on the St. Albans Psalter, completed shortly after the Norman Conquest. Norman influence is seen in the flowing thick/thin lines to indicate shape and shading. The elongated fingers are also typical of the Psalter. The owl, who knows? I guess it's just my sense of reality. There's always a critic hanging about.

M Is for Monsters

I've been drawing, have about ten letters done, but no time to post. This is M and the monsters are modeled after the Luttrell Psalter. This work, completed about 1325, had about five artists, experts think. I wonder if one specialized in the fantastic beasts that filled its margins. I've reinterpreted seven here, my favorite being Cat Fish Man in the upper right corner.

I Is for Ibis in a Knot

This source of inspiration for this one is the Lindisfarne Gospels, one of the oldest and most beautiful illuminated manuscripts in existence. Said to be the work of one man, Eadfrith, bishop of the Lindisfarne monastery. The book was made around 720. Its rich textures of Celtic knots and fanciful creatures influenced many later works. More on this magnificent work another day. My own interpretation greatly simplifies the knotting and the beasts because I'm just not ready to imitate Eadfrith fully. The bishop was a genius.

T Is for Taunting...

About a year ago I began drawing an alphabet inspired by medieval manuscript illumination. Not sure which is more fun, drawing the letters or studying the originals. I have posted letters as I've finished them on Facebook, but here I hope to record not just the drawings but information about some of the sources. Today the T, not the first letter I did, but the first where I think I began to understand what the medieval artists were doing. This used the Alphonso Psalter as an inspiration. More on the Alphonso another day.