This was my first real illumination project, in 1998.
There's a bit of a story behind it. See, when I was about 11 years old, I was given a calligraphy set for my birthday or something, and I learnt to do calligraphy. While on holidays at my Nanna's, I borrowed some old dip-pens of my grandfather's, and decided to make something for my Nanna. My choice of subject matter was the Lord's Prayer, which seemed like a suitable thing for a calligraphy project. So I wrote the thing in my eleven-year-old hand, and decorated the borders with flowers and leaves. My Nanna put it on her kitchen wall and kept it there forever.
Now, that's fine, but of course as one gets older one realises the inadequacies of one's childhood artwork. So in 1998 I decided that I would make a new Lord's Prayer for my Nanna, to the best of my current abilities.
I did the piece on marbled calligraphy paper, and illuminated it using gouache paints. I then framed it and gave it to my Nanna for Christmas. My dad had been disparaging of the project when I'd told him about it a bit before, saying I was just too cheap to get her a real present. But when he saw it even he was impressed. My nanna could hardly believe that I'd done it myself.
This piece now hangs on her kitchen wall next to the first one I did at the age of eleven.
