The first scroll I ever did wasn’t technically a scroll. The year was 2014. I had decided to try my hand at calligraphy and illumination but, having no more than high school art level training and a couple of decades of distance from even that, I was pretty nervous about my ability to create anything of value. So, I started by using a work project as an opportunity to do my first piece, an illuminated letter ‘n’. The inspiration was a piece of art I’d found on Etsy. Attempting to do foliage and pleasingly arrange the random placement of stars and curly bits proved to be not very successful, but the overall result was at least satisfying enough to encourage me to continue. I could at least do structured bits. My favorite bit was the constellation of Leo in the stars.

Materials: 12″x12″ board, craft store acrylic paint, random brushes that I’ve had for decades