Wednesday 31 October 2012

Byzantine Illuminated manuscripts

#byzantine

For a change I thought we could look at some Illuminated manuscripts from the Byzantine tradition from the  10th and 11th centuries.









You might want to compare these to late Roman mosaics and frescos  and also to Ottonian and Carolingian manuscripts.

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Monday 29 October 2012

Save NSW TAFE Art's My Trade


ART's My Trade is the slogan of the Save Art in TAFE campaign


If you know anyone who lives in NSW who isnt already supporting the campaign against funding cuts please ask them to check out the various online Facebook and Tweets and to look up for local Art Events and Demos! Thank you !

Pantone the 20th Century in Color

This is a fantastic reference book and also one you can read just for the pleasure of viewing the various designs patterns and objects the writers selected as being representative of various decades.Yes color swatches are included!

Friday 26 October 2012

HOPE

Just something I've been playing with as I try to combine various filters.

Copyright j. vaux 2012

Friday 19 October 2012

thinking with type

THINKING WITH TYPE



Thinking with type 
a Critical guide for designers, writers, editors and students
Ellen Lupton 2nf 2010 edition

Need ideas for your self or students?

Read this book  for yourself when going back and reviewing  basics will refresh and inspire you and recommend it to students who need a good solid introduction to those basics. Or just study and enjoy it as an example of a well designed text book!

Tuesday 16 October 2012

AGAPE

AGAPE
is my latest design!

Copyright Julie Vaux 2012

You can view many products with this image on them at

my CafePress Shop

Please come and visit !

Wednesday 10 October 2012

The Winchester Bible

THE WINCHESTER BIBLE

Most people associate Romansque and Gothic art in England with castles and cathedrals rather than paintings since most mediaeval wall paintings were painted by by Protestant or destroyed in the Civil WAr of the 17th century or by other fires and events.

However there was an English tradition and several styles of painting that survive in some illuminated manuscripts.

One of the most famous of these is the Winchester Bible from the 12th century which can be viewed at the Cathedral library of that city.




Many general histories cite only Franco-Flemish examples usually the Book of Hours by the Limbourg brothers but people were producing books all over Europe.

Illuminated mansucripts are labor intensive tho. Analysis shows six different artists working on the Winchester bible and many of the illustrations are only ink drawings clearly meant to be colored later.  Artists scribes and  book binders they all had to be paid and while ink is cheap the best ground mineral pigments were expensive. Hence the decline in Illuminated manuscripts when printing was introduced.



Even in China and Japan where there was a cultural preference for hand copying as having status demand for print triumphed.




However perhaps some day soon we may have online bibles that are full textual linkages and illustrated and as vividly beautiful as works like the Winchester bible?



Tuesday 2 October 2012

Book of Hours Three

Book of Hours Three

Gothic Scripts in context

Both of these pages are from books of Hours from French workshops.



The first one reminds of me of the earlier English styles from the Winchester school and the second has well I picked this one ot show the binding and covers.

Art books discussing illuminated manuscripts have a tendency to use photos that emphasize the illustrations over ones that give you an idea of their setting and context within the page unless the book is a modern reproduction of  a whole work.

The use of ornament as a frame to emphasize text is also something web and ebooks designers should consider.

How should we balance white space, text, and decoration, to make text both legible and lovely?