Medieval Magazine:
Flemish Miniatures modified for use as cover illustrations for
Tournaments Illuminated.
Merouda Pendray, modernly called Elyse C. Boucher.
Documentation
As this was eventually entered into the Middle Kingdom's Arts & Sciences Faire, most of the description of technique and the bibliography can be found in that article, linked here.
Illustrations and Artist's Choices
This is graphic intensive; please be patient while the photos load.
The project consists of a front and back cover for a winter issue of Tournaments Illuminated, a publication of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. Because of the format, the illuminations had to be created with large, empty spaces to accommodate the title banners and so forth. This influenced the design and is immediately apparent in the final paintings. They're "top empty."
Initial drawing for the
front and back covers.
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Inked drawings for the
front and back covers. Ready to paint!
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Front cover in the
halfway stage.
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Front and back covers,
finished.
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There are noticeable changes from the initial sketches to the final versions. On the front cover, intended to be a stylized family portrait, "Miguel" has had the position of his hands and feet modified, and I gave him a beard. "Isobel" (in green) and "Merouda" (in yellow and black, her heraldic colors) remain much the same. The Sept Pendray badge has been added as if a wall carving above the door.
The back cover was conceived as having a good number of trees and birds and other such natural features as a part of the picture. Time constraints forced me to empty the painting of all details but for those needed to convey the sense of a winter landscape. While there is a part of me that is sad about this, I also recognize that an uncluttered back cover is not a bad thing; a lot of printed information has to be superimposed upon the painting.
One of the more frustrating comments I received on these pieces was also an inadvertent complement. The judge described the pictures as very good, but not much different from the models. This is actually untrue; the simple act of changing them from a 1"x2", intimate scene to a 9"x7" full room view is, in itself, mighty. Add the addition of this detail and the subtraction of that detail, and eventually, you have the goal: a similar but individual picture. While it was frustrating that the judges did not notice this, it also spoke volumes regarding the success of the paintings: they were sufficiently well done to blend into the genre so seamlessly that the differences were not noticeable. As I have said in the past, my ultimate goal is to create works as accomplished (or, even more so, as I would not make the mistake of painting secular scenes on liturgical manuscripts) as those of the Spanish Forger. I'd like to believe I am starting to get there.
Enjoy! Comments or questions may be emailed to me at merouda at hotmail dot com.
See copyright notice here.