illuminated text.. first attempt in adulthood

I've pulled out a book I've had on exactly how to do illuminated text that I've been sitting on for a year or two, and giving some of it a go. I love the background patterns and the work that goes into a project. As a teenager I was really interested in this, and even mixed egg yolk into my paints (with mixed results!) and tried gold leaf (it was too hard!). Somewhere I still have some of those really early efforts. I can remember the first one was tiny.

I'm having a go at several of the patterns and techniques, but no traditional materials this time. I've constricted the pallette to red, aqua, white, blue and black.

It's actually alot of fun once I get going. The border pattern is basically three steps repeated. The majority of the work was in drawing it up.

The inner parts includes a picture and text, and two large letters.

outside border underway.. yay. Once the grid lines and background colour are done, it's just repeating a 3 step process

Up close and personal.. all with a wee brush

This is a close up?? yes, it is. You can see more of my mistakes in this one!