A diversionary scroll

This scroll took a lot longer than I was planning for. My 3 year old was once again being very helpful. He decided to add his own flourishes in the text box and dribble all over the miniature with large splotches of ink. I spent a good part of yesterday scraping ink off, repainting and reworking. I still haven't gotten the award text written. Rather worried about that since calligraphy is not my strong suit. The event starts in a couple of hours and is an hour drive away. Thank goodness they don't need it until the end, huh?

This will be my 3rd Kingdom scroll presented. I think I'm making progress, but still a long way to go before I'm reasonable at scroll making. I started doing scroll with an ulterior motive, as a way to get my husband (who is a really wonderful artist) to get more involved in the SCA. I figured if I had assignments and was making a mess of them he would step in and save me since I am not the painter in the family. No such luck, but I'm having fun and getting better quickly.

This was a big stretch for me, since I have been focusing on early Russian and Byzantine illumination styles. Its based on a French manuscript dated 1540. Our Queen has a late period Elizabethan persona, so I felt it was more fitting. She is also both a Laurel and a Pelican so I included those as well as her personal device of the red dragonfly. The bits of filigree at the bottom reminded me of gryphons, so I drew them that way. My version is certainly a great deal more whimsical than the original, but I think it will be appreciated and the award is for Queen's Choice at Kingdom A&S, so I haven't made a mess of someone's AoA or anything.