Sunday, April 5, 2015

A Psalter Post for Easter

Happy Easter! Since it's the biggest holy day of the Christian calendar, I decided to make today's post a bit different.

In 2001, I burned myself out on calligraphy and illumination...two hobbies that kept me occupied for several years until I transitioned to scrapbooking and cardmaking. Both take enormous practice and patience, not to mention a tad bit of obsession, to master, and I never felt that I mastered either...although I got passably good enough for an unschooled amateur.

My final calligraphy/illumination project was a handmade book of Psalms, or Psalter, for my mother. Christianity has a rich tradition of beautiful, handmade books of scripture that didn't die out with the invention of the printing press. Check out the St. John's Bible. Amazing artistry and skill from hundreds of people created a modern illuminated Bible using old techniques in new ways.

My FAR-less-ambitious idea was to make a book with a complex Japanese stab binding that included a variety of small Celtic-style illuminations, ten uplifting or comforting psalms written in a modified Carolingian script, and heavily illuminated title and "amen" pages.

The book took over four months to complete. That was 14 years ago. I'm still burned out.

While visiting my mom and sister last week, I finally photographed my little Psalter, which is nowhere near as amazing as the St. John's work, but it does reflect the best work I ever did in calligraphy and illumination. I thought I'd share it with you today.

The book is approximately 8" x 12".

The cover illumination is inset into the mat board. I carved
a recess into the mat board before covering it with the black paper.

Fifteen holes were punched through the spine using a leather punch
and mallet, and the book pages were punched with a 1/8"
circle punch. My hands were killing me by the time I finished!

The title page is an amalgam of various Celtic elements. The paint
is Windsor & Newton gouache, which is an artist-grade, opaque watercolor paint.
The ink used for the black parts is waterproof India ink.
The paper is 90lb hot-press Windsor & Newton watercolor paper
cut so the deckle edge leads on each page. 

This page took a while!

Each psalm has a small illumination under the title. To keep my lines
of calligraphy straight, I used a large light box with grid paper
under the watercolor paper. By taping the grid and watercolor paper
to the light box, nothing shifted while I worked.
I used a dip pen for the calligraphy and as a result had
inky fingers for several months!

As you can see, I wrote on the back of each page...which made doing
the reverse side tricky as the writing showed through on the light box.
It all worked out though, and I didn't have to erase a bunch of pencil marks
when I was finished. Yay!

This odd little two-legged lizard is straight from the Book of Kells.
I'm pretty sure I changed the colors, though.


I love the red-line decoration on Psalm 117.

Here's another example of the small illuminations. Most of these
came from a book by George Bain called Celtic Art.
 
The final page picks up on the blue of the title page.

Close-up of the blue. It's kind of hard to make the paint look that smooth...
it took several coats of the gouache to achieve it.

The binding has hinges on both the front and back covers for easier opening.
 

And there you have it: the reason I no longer do calligraphy and illumination. I hope you enjoyed looking at it as much as I enjoy sharing it. These sorts of over-the-top projects are enormously satisfying. A mind-boggling amount of work, of course, but satisfying because of it.

Blessings to you all this holy day.

25 comments:

  1. Oh Susan, this is really such a beautiful piece of artwork, I totally adore it! It is a pity that you do no longer calligraphy because you did it in a really great way.

    But I understand why you said so. Sometimes, after finished such a masterpiece we just need to relax.

    Hope that you will pick your ink one day in future again ;-)

    Happy Easter

    Sandra
    (Sunny)

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  2. What an incredible work of art - and those are some of my favourite Psalms as well... A true treasure!

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  3. So beautiful. I am sure your mother treasures it.

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  4. What an amazing project, Susan. It's a real handmade treasure. I cannot imagine undertaking anything like it. I know your mother treasures it.

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  5. OMG.. This is fantastic. Such a treasure indeed :)

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  6. OMG.. This is fantastic. Such a treasure indeed :)

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  7. What a keepsake and amazing work of art Susan. Thank you for sharing this amazing work of art. Happy Easter.

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  8. Really wonderful piece of workmanship to treasure

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  9. Really wonderful piece of workmanship to treasure

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  10. Just stunning Susan!! This will give you so many hours of pleasure and comfort. Your illuminations are so vibrant.

    I want to have a go at stab binding too, it looks so incredible.

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  11. Such a beautiful creation of calligraphy, illumination, and binding. A work of love to select the psalms and to design and complete the book. Thank you for sharing it with us. I've done some "too much of a good thing" projects, too, with sewing, woodworking, and car rebuilding. I'm really glad I did them for many reasons, but not to do again. But the memories and the learning come back in small skills that make me smile.

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  12. Susan, you've rendered me speechless. I am struggling to find the appropriate words that would give praise to your artistic masterpiece.

    I'm going with....YOU ROCK!!!

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  13. Susan....this is truly a work of art, I do realise only too well how many hours it took to complete this.....I admire this hand but haven't mastered it myself......I usually do foundational...which you Americans do not favour really...you mostly like cursive etc.
    I really think it was an amazing project and congratulate you heartily on a wonderful hand made book.

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  14. Susan....this is truly a work of art, I do realise only too well how many hours it took to complete this.....I admire this hand but haven't mastered it myself......I usually do foundational...which you Americans do not favour really...you mostly like cursive etc.
    I really think it was an amazing project and congratulate you heartily on a wonderful hand made book.

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  15. Susan this is such a love made gift. Thank you for sharing it. I have done some calligraphy (years ago) and I know how exacting and intricate it is. You did a beautiful job on it. Just knowing that should you make an error (Heaven forbid on the last sentence) it has to be totally redone. Ahhhh, scary. But oh, so beautiful.
    God bless.
    tonilea
    PS any word about Jonah?

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  16. Howdy! Thanks SO much for sharing this lovely work of art/heart. Another example of how amazing you are!! Can only image how much pleasure it must give your mother. Thanks for continuing to share and inspire us. Hope you NEVER get tired of stamping/card-making! Much love, Sherry

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  17. Wow... Absolutely an amazing keepsake and an incredibly well-done work of art!

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  18. All I can think of to say is WOW. A wonderful treasure for your mom. Thanks so much for sharing with us. I hope you are as proud of yourself as she is of you!

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  19. What a glorious "sacrifice of praise". I have stitched a few kneelers and every stitch holds the devotion of the time that was spent on it (a lot!). I'm sure it's the same for this beautiful piece. So glad you photographed it and shared it with us after all this time. x

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  20. What a beautiful family heirloom. It may have taken long to make, but it will last for a long time - hopefully, generations. Cards are quick to make, have their own appreciation, but aren't around for a long time.

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  21. Absolutely beautiful, what a labor of love!

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  22. My Goodness, Susan! I simply LOVE your little secret! What a thing of beauty! I confess that you have me running for my bible. . .
    Thank you for sharing! It is wonderful!

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  23. Susan! Words cannot express your beautiful work of art. Well, maybe one, "Amen."

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!