Illumination

Illumination can be found from texts as early as 400 to 600 AD. It is most often seen in Medieval texts, or used by Disney for princess movie intros. It started being used in Italy and the Eastern Roman Empire, and is used on special or holy stories/fables/laws/random. Most often, the use of gold leaf was liberal, as it made a certain section stand out from the rest. Modern Illuminates use watercolors and ink for their projects.
Me and my friend KaTrina were sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her mom to come and pick her up, and she mention that she needed to do some sampler Illumination for a school project.
Just a few days before, NotMolly had picked up an instructional book at the library on Illumination.
So, I pulled it out, and KaT and I set to work! We used pencils, as dragging out the paints would be silly, and started playing with shapes and designs. Finally, by the time her mom had arrived, we were starting to get the hang of it. KaT has continued with knitting/crocheting, and I have been steadily working on my wicked watercolor skeelz.

The outcome:

This is one I did for KaT as a Christmas present. Not to be braggy, but I'm proud of this one :)

I need to locate and buy some gold leaf, though, because that is what makes Illumination, Illumination!
Example?




You give it a shot! It's very therapeutic.....
Grab some watercolors, watercolor paper, ink pens, watercolor pencils (WC paper is a pain to erase. If you use WC pencils, they at least blend in), a ruler, and get to work! books can be found at your local library, and can be more than useful.
Be sure to have fun, relax, and don't plan. Never plot, because it won't turn out right.

Have at it!