Monday, August 5, 2019

Sacred Art Institute: Illuminated House Blessing


Angell Hall is the new art studio where we would spend our days. When I was on the island (Enders Island in Mystic Connecticut) in 2015, this building was just being remodeled. This was my third time on the island, and my fourth class with the instructor.

 The studio on the left had lightboxes for tracing and the Keurig machine. The studio on the right, was where we lived during the day. (At night we were housed in a dormitory. All meals and snacks were provided.)

 The studio comfortably seated the 10 students, Valerie Weilmuenster, the instructor, and Sr. Eugenia Brady, S.J.C., the spiritual leader as well as a student. The studio was bright and had large window views of the ocean. 

Sister Eugenia led the class in a morning devotion/meditation to help us focus our thoughts on creating the best work that we could.

Monday morning after Mass, students were invited to have their hands blessed. We then went to the studio to begin the work for the week.

 I took process photos during the week, but not as many as I thought I had. Valerie had the class well laid out and kept us on task so everyone would have a completed project at the end of the week.



The blessing was to be written in Uncial (commonly called Celtic). It's one of the earlier hands used in Europe from 300 AD, oops, C.E to 800 C.E. when Charlemagne was crown Holy Roman Emperor. We spent the morning practicing the letters that would be used in the quote. We worked with a size 1.5 mm Brause nib and Moon Palace sumi ink. Valerie lettered our names on place cards.


In the afternoon, we made shell gold. We mixed sheets of loose leaf gold with gum arabic and a few drops of water. This mixture was ground with our finger! into a sort of dry paste. When the process was complete, we washed the bowl and our finger with distilled water and left the gold to settle to the bottom of the bowl. 

After the gold settles, the leftover water is removed either by pipette (safer) or quickly dumping out the water. Any remaining water is left overnight to evaporate. The gold leaf has now been turned into a paint. It's called shell gold because in the Middle Ages, the paint was made and stored in a clam or scallop type shell. 

Tuesday 

We spent the morning with some more practice. We had a 2 PM deadline to get the quote lettered on our good paper. Since there was so much involved with a piece like this, to save time and ensure each student had a successful outcome, the design was pre-printed on a Strathmore watercolor paper. I forgot to write down which one.

We also traced the versal letters and the quote for spacing and layout. The title Bless Our Home was lettered with a 2 mm. nib. All lettering is done before the gilding and painting. If a mistake is made in lettering, it's easier to correct or redo if necessary without wasting the gold leaf. 


The illuminated initial design was to be gilded with 23 karat gold leaf. Instacoll Gold Size was applied for the gilding base instead of the traditional gesso as the Instacoll is a bit easier to use.


We mixed the paint to be used a combination of gouache (opaque watercolor) and watercolor. A traditional, color palette used during the Middle Ages was red, green, and blue. Valerie chose for us a modern variation of Ultramarine and Prussian Blue, Magenta, and Sap Green.


The base is gilded. usually with 2 layers of gold leaf. Lots of variables are involved in the process, weather, humidity, materials, paper. For whatever reason, I could not get a second layer of gold to stick and decided to call one layer of gold leaf good.

Wednesday


After the gold leaf, the shell gold is painted into the vine design and the versal letters of the title. The larger versal letters were outlined in blue using a Hunt 513 EF nib.

The leaf gold is shined with an agate burnisher using a sheet of glassine paper to burnish through. The shell gold can be burnished directly on the gold.

Thursday

One of the important lessons to remember during a workshop is you most likely won't be doing museum quality work and mistakes may be made. The idea is to learn the process so you can do things on your own.

Valerie is a patient teacher and adept at correcting mistakes. My table mate had smeared some of her lettering when she removed her guide sheet (place under your hand to keep the oils of your skin from being absorbed by the good paper) and it fell in her wet lettering.. When the ink was dry, Valerie used an electric eraser and an Exacto knife to remove the smeared bits.



I also had made a mistake. I thought the blue outline of the versal letters was dry. It wasn't so when I went to erase my pencil lines, I smeared some blue paint in the bowl of the "O". Valerie said I had two options to choose how to make a correction. I could use the electric eraser to remove the blue or I could just paint the counter spaces (interior of letters) with the shell gold. Well, you can't have too much bling so I went for the gold.


The design was painted in and detail dots and lines were added using Gansai White.

Friday


Filigree around the blue versal letters was done  Winsor Newton Gold Ink and a pointed pen. Outlines around the title versals and initial and vine were outlined to clean up and allow the gold things to really stand out. We could outline with pen and ink or  a Pigma Micron .01 pen. I used the Pigma pen.


Class ended at noon, and we were presented a certificate. The island photographer also took pictures of us with our completed work and a class picture.

All materials were provided in this workshop,and you could bring your own tools. We got to take home the shell gold we made, the palettes of paint, handouts detailing the process, the Winsor Newton Sceptre 101 size 0 brush, memories and friendships made.

 I'll be returning in October for another session this time with another instructor, Kathy Millici, for The Prayer of St. Francis

If Illuminated Manuscripts aren't your thing, there are lots of other sacred arts offered: Iconography, Gregorian Chant, Stained Glass and Mosaics, Painting and Drawing. There are week long and day workshops offered. Check them out here.

27 comments:

  1. Oh! Wonderful! I took a mini-workshop from Valerie at Iampeth several years ago. LOVE your results. The colors are so rich and beautiful!

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    1. I first met Valerie in the mid-1990s when she came to teach illuminated letters (sans gilding) to the Masscribes gild. My first class with her on the island was in 2015. It was so worth the wait!

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  2. Excellent photos and description of the process. Enders Island should hire you to write for them.

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  3. You seem to have had a very uplifting time and the piece you made is extremely beautiful. Valerie

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    1. The island just exudes peace and harmony. Makes it the perfect atmosphere to do beautiful work.

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  4. Wow CJ what an amazing class you were able to take! so impressed with everything. and I really enjoyed reading about the history of the island-thanks so much for that

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  5. and your finished piece is just so lovely-hugs

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. Glad you enjoyed learning about the island history

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  6. What gorgeous work! It sounds like an inspiring experience.

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    1. Enders is great place to go to fill up your well with inspiration.

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  7. Great write up and photos for each step. This looks like a lot of fun. I love illuminated manuscripts. I used to do calligraphy a long time ago, so I'm sure I'm very rusty at doing it now. The Prayer of St. Francis looks like it will be another fun workshop for you.

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    1. It was lots of fun. Even though I’ve done classes like this before, there was still lots to learn

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  8. The illuminated art is gorgeous. Wow, that gold is really bold. Sounds like a great place to take a class as well as a great class. Hugs-Erika

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    1. The photos don’t do the gold justice. It’s gorgeous IRL if I do say so myself. 😊 Valerie’s classes are awesome. The island is the icing on the cake

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  9. Wow! Fabulous results and what a great time you must have had!
    We have a plaque with the St Francis prayer as my hubby is a Francis on Sundays - during the week he uses his middle name but some folk in church have known him since he was a child! He would love to attend such a class - he wants to practice his calligraphy more - maybe I can persuade him to update our plaque with some of his own writing! Hugs, Chrisx

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    1. Too bad you didn't live closer to come to Enders. You both would enjoy the island and class.

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  10. Wow, truly stunning! You are a natural talent CJ!!!! Thanks for sharing the process! Big Hugs!

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  11. I'm not sure how I missed this, CJ, but I'm glad you left a link to this post. You created a beautiful piece, and I was impressed.

    I followed the link to your next workshop. I have to tell you, I live for nearly nine months on about what you paid (or will pay) for your room and tuition. You are so blessed. I don't suppose you want to adopt me (grin)!

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    1. Indeed, I am blessed. Wouldn’t it be fun to win a big lottery jackpot and then gather blog friends and T Ladies to go on an art retreat? 😊

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  12. Your finished piece is lovely :)

    All the best Jan

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