Gryphon Painting with Local Pigments in a Greek Iconography Style

 Summits Iconography Painting

Muirenn inghean Uí Cléirigh

August AS LXI (2026)

At the Fools Court of Coeur du Val Playdate I was found guilty of collecting stones at the river for pigment and sentenced to creating art from them.  The stones I gathered there were used to make the green of the painting described below.  I found myself mesmerized by ancient Byzantine and Greek Orthodox iconography this month and decided to created something in this style that also showcased the Beautiful Summits from which all these materials came.

We begin this journey with the canvas.  But this is no ordinary canvas!  This canvas was created by Ulf the Wanderer of Terra Pomaria using former event tents.  He gave it to me at Egils LIX, but I was waiting for this perfect opportunity to use it.

Adding lime to size

To prepare the canvas, I began with a gesso.  This seals the fibers of the canvas and creates a more solid, smooth surface that will not bleed when liquids are added on top of it.  Theophilus, the 12th c art author, mentions using parchment size as a superior material.  I had made up some parchment size from the trimmings of the last parchment I made by simmering them in water for hours.  This size is then mixed with hydrated lime to create a paste that is added in many light layers in alternating directions to the canvas.  However, when this dried, the powder lifted easily to the touch.  So I made up a batch of the more standard gesso using hide glue instead of parchment size.  This recipe is mentioned by Theopholis as well as Pliny and Cennini, 1st c and 14th c art authors, respectively.  To do this, I soaked hide glue granules covered in warm water for 4 hours, then simmered in a double boiler until liquid.  To this I mixed the lime until it was a light paste consistency, then applied to the canvas in light, alternating layers.  When it had fully dried, it was solid!

Layering on the hide glue gesso

The next step is to draw the outline on with oak gall ink.  While this will be painted over, it will show through the first light layers enough to guide their placement.  I made the oak gall ink with galls I foraged around our Adiantum home and iron scrap from Eoghan’s forge.  I decided on an image of the Summit’s Gryphon and Grail, though I did take significant artistic license. The style was inspired by post iconoclast iconography of the beasts that represent the four Gospels in Greece.  

Outline with oak gall iron ink

My favorite and most time consuming part followed: the process of turning rocks into a gryphon.  The pigments I used include red and gold ochres from Adiantum, slate from Briaroak, terre verte from Coeur du Val, lamp black from Tymberhavenn, and a little staghorn lichen from Adiantum.  All the earth pigments had to be ground in mortar and pestle until they were fine powder, then I transferred them to the mulling slab to mull with a tempera binder.  To make the binder, I separate an egg yolk, remove its membrane, then mix the fluid with a little apple cider vinegar and  a little water until smooth.  These were mulled until they became the consistency of butter.

Separating the egg for glaire and tempera

Mulling the gold ochre

This tempera is painted in very light, translucent layers to achieve a certain depth.  I attempted to follow the same Greek Orthodox style to place the shadows, though this was the reverse of my usual habits.  The style I sought to attain seems to glow as though in candlelight rather than very directional sunlight.  

Finally, I followed Cennini’s 14th c recipe for applying the gold leaf.  He describes making a glaire with the whipped egg white (though he calls it a tempera in his writings), watering it down slightly, and mixing in a little Armenian bole.  Armenian bole was a red ochre, so I substituted local red ochre.   I added this to the area where the gold would go in four  light layers, alternating brushstroke direction and allowing to fully dry between layers.  After this, I painted a fifth layer without the bole and a little more watered down.  This rewets the four layers of egg white beneath to reconstitute it enough to be slightly sticky.  Working in sections I gently laid my faux gold sheets over these dampened areas and, with light brushstrokes, made sure they made even contact with the surface.  Once all the areas were covered, I allowed it to fully dry.  Then I lightly dabbed with a paintbrush to remove loose flakes, saving them for later touch up.  I burnished this with an agate and the went back over patches that didn’t take well with more glaire and gold.  

Gold leaf

After this I put on a few more finishing details, mostly to make sure there was enough contrast between the painting and the goldwork.  I added my signature mushroom and signed the back as well.  This was such a fun project and I am looking forward to sharing it!

References:

Pliny the Elder, 77-79 AD. “Natural History”  Books 33-35

Theophilus, 1100 AD. “On Divers Arts” 

Cennino de Cennini, 1390. “Il Libro Dell’Arte”

Elkhide parchment

 Elk Parchment

WARNING: some potentially disturbing photos of fleshing the hide

Last year I was given this elkhide by HL Mergret Dyer who had received it from one of her friends.  It stayed in my freezer until I was able to work it.  In the early spring, I thawed it and cut back several pounds of muscle, adipose, and connective tissue.  At this point I decided that I wanted to portion out the hide as I was working solo and struggled to manage the entire hide (I estimate it weighed over 50 lbs while I was working with it wet).  I cut about a sixth of it to fit my 3x4’ parchment frame and the rest went to leather.  From the beginning, there were several rough cuts (gouging into the skin) and holes found in the hide - the butchers were simply removing to harvest the meat and not with the intention of parchment.

I mixed up a lime bath (5 gallons of water to 5 pounds of hydrated lime) and allowed the hide to soak for a month in cooler temperatures.  At this point I pulled out portions and began to scrape the hair off and further clean up the flesh side, scraping away any remaining tissues.   For this I spread the hide on a core post given to me by Arcos John Wayland and scraped with a fleshing blade given to me by Magistra Raven Qara ton. After the scraping was completed, I allowed they hide to soak in a rinse bath for a few days.

My next step was to stretch the hide on the frame.  Twice I stretched it out, pulling it taut under the pegs around the frame.  Twice the thick hide snapped the twine and popped the pegs from their holes as it dried  And after each I had to resoak the hide and start over.* By the third try I had learned to double my twine and thread each pass through the holes of my frame rather than depending on the pegs to hold.  The pegs are nice because they are adjustable as the hide dries and they also add a little more stretch as they’re hammered in place.  But this hide required adjustment in order to make it work.

Finally, the hide was stretched and dried, although there were much more noticeable variations in the tautness depending on the humidity of the weather.  Now it was time to cut it off the frame and trim it into the desired sizes.  This parchment was expected to be quite thick but it was a challenge that I didn’t know if I could make work at all and I’m quite pleased with the results.  I chose not to lime pounce this one as I knew I would be doing inkwork and highlight contrast on some of the pieces.  However, I plan to apply a light lime gesso to some of the portions before working them further.

For my first piece from this hide I was honored to be asked to create a passport of sorts from their Excellencies Summits to their Excellencies Tir Righ. I used some of my oak gall ink (see previous post) and eggshell paint I had made from leaching the calcium from chicken eggs last Egils in the style requested. It was such a joy it see it delivered!  

*During one of the resoakings, I was startled to pull out the hide with vibrant purple staining!  After some research, I found that this was found in medieval manuscripts as well!  It is caused by a salt loving (halophillic) bacteria (we have a salt water filter in our wellhouse) and causes the parchment to become slightly less stable.   (Perini, et al; Pinar et

 de Rosier-Blanc D (2024) Parchment’s Corner 1.  Self published, last viewed 7-16-26 from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WjjvUtdO86a6CcmhcJFQHj01R8uM9f--/view

Bianco, D (2024) Making parchment.   Self published, last viewed 7-16-26 from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7iOPhLWjIesZzhFdFN3eVVSMms/view?usp=drivesdk&resourcekey=0-27-iqMdxrJaUl5imhOadkg

 

Perini N, Mercuri F, Thaller MC, Orlanducci S, Castiello D, Talarico V and Migliore L (2019) The Stain of the Original Salt: Red Heats on Chrome Tanned Leathers and Purple Spots on Ancient Parchments Are Two Sides of the Same Ecological Coin. Front. Microbiol. 10:2459. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02459

Pinar, Guadalupe & Sterflinger, Katja & Pinzari, Flavia. (2014). Unmasking the measles‐like parchment discoloration: molecular and microanalytical approach. Environmental Microbiology. 17. 427-443. 10.1111/1462-2920.12471. 

Bog Butter in Bark Firkin

      In the wetlands surrounding their crannog, an Irish woman stashed her last firkin of bog butter, not to be rediscovered for centuries.  The cool waters of the bog helped to preserve the butter or tallow, however, there are alternate theories such as this storage method being used to impart a certain, flavor in the butter or that it was a ritual offering after a time of dairy abundance (Rafferty, 35-37). While the majority of bog butter has been found in turned wood casks, most written accounts mention butter was also found stored in barkwood or even animal hides (Smythe, et al. 8). Through radiocarbon dating, these findings have been dated from 1700 BC to the 17th c. AD. and ranging in sizes from 1 pound to over 50. (Smythe, 1-2)  While also being used for the family, butter during the early middle ages could have been used to pay rent and was required, in some cases, in established hospitality practices (O’Sullivan, 223, 229).

 

Bog Butter from Galway 960-1040 AD (Smythe, et. al. 2)

 

  I cut a round for the base and then soaked two pieces of the bark, cut to size.  I made up some hide glue from hide granules and mixed in a little sawdust to adhere the pieces together and banded with split willow tied with dandelion stems. All of these I foraged locally and compared to similar species that grow in Ireland.  I made small holes along the top with an awl.  Into this I tied twine that I made from dandelion stems.  To make the butter itself, I made a makeshift churn from a jar and used a tvare to whisk the cream until the butter formed.  This would have been wrapped, pressed, salted, and covered with linen as the find described by Frazier on page 584, but I chose to use waxed paper for food safety.

                                    Tvare found at Lendbreen Pass, 11th C. (Pilø)

I've written about making tvare before, but I was so curious to see if it would work for this application. In 2011, archeologists uncovered a treasure trove of Viking era artifacts at Lendbreen Pass in Norway just north of Oslo.  Among a dog collar and leash and a wooden ski was the remnants of another quite familiar object: a whisk.  Called tvare locally, this was made from the top of a coniferous tree where the whorls branch out at a single level.  They can then be stripped of bark and trimmed to the desired length.  It is uncertain whether they were then left loose in an umbrella fashion or wired back to the trunk to create our familiar shaped whisk.  Either way, the tools was functional in much the same way.  I've recently discovered that a nearly identical item was found from Fiave, Italy. Measuring 19 cm and dated to the early middle ages (Coles, Byron and John, p. 131-133).

 

    The whisk spun so easily in my hands, though I did wrap the handle in a damp cloth to ease any abrasion. I whisked the slightly warmed cream intermittently while I made dinner that evening and soon enough clumps of butter formed! I estimate it took about the same amount of time as when I've used the shaken jar method in the past. I strained and washed the butter, adding a small amount of Celtic sea salt, then pressed it into my firkin.  However, I am sadly lacking a peat bog, so was unable to infuse the boggy flavors to this batch. 

 

Worked Cited

Burton, Holly The Arrival of the Celts in Ireland: Archaeology and Linguistics. Expedition Magazine, Vol. 21, No. 3. 1979.  Date accessed 12-30-26 from https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-arrival-of-the-celts-in-ireland/  .  

Cartwright, Mark.  Death, Burial & the Afterlife in the Ancient Celtic Religion.  World History Encyclopedia.  March 2021.  Date accessed 1-14-26 from https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1707/death-burial--the-afterlife-in-the-ancient-celtic/

Catling, Chris. Mounds and monasteries: burials in late Iron Age and early medieval Ireland.  Current Archaeology, Issue 374.  2021. Date accessed 1-14-26 from https://the-past.com/feature/mounds-and-monasteries-burials-in-late-iron-age-and-early-medieval-ireland/ 

Coles, Byron and John People of the Wetlands: Bogs, Bodies, and Lake-Dwellers. Thames and Hudson. 1989. 

Frazer, W. Bog Butter: Its History, with Observations. II. On a Dish of Wood Found in a Bog at Ballymoney. III. On a Primitive Wooden Milk Churn.  Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 5th series, Vol. 1, No. 7 (3rd Quarter, 1891), pp. 583-588.  Date accessed 3-3-26 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/25507823 

Gannon, M.  Treasure Trove of Artifacts Illustrates Life in a Lost Viking Mountain Pass. Smithsonian, 2020.  Date accessed5-22-23 from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/lendbreen-norway-viking-mountain-pass-180974680/

Harney, Lorcan. Death and burial in Ireland's 'Cities of God': new insights into early medieval ecclesiastical burial practices in light of the emerging archaeological evidence. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.  Vol 148. pp. 29-53.  Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 2018.

O’Sullivan, Aidan and Nicholl, Tríona. Early medieval settlement enclosures in Ireland: dwellings, daily life and social identity. Royal Irish Academy.  Vol. 111C, Special Issue: Domestic Life in Ireland. pp. 59-90.  2011.

O’Sullivan, Catherine Marie. Hospitality in Medieval Ireland 900-1500. Four Courts Press, Oregon. 2004. 

Pilø, L. The Hunt for the Lost Mountain Pass Secrets of the Ice, 2020.  Date accessed 5-22-23 from https://secretsoftheice.com/news/2020/04/16/mountain-pass/

Raftery, Joseph.  A Bog Butter Vessel from near Tuam, Co. Galway.  Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society  Vol. 20, No. 1/2 (1942), pp. 31-38.  Date accessed 3-3-26 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/25535221

Smyth, Jessica et al. Four millennia of dairy surplus and deposition revealed through compound-specific stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating of Irish bog butters. Scientific reports vol. 9,1 4559. 14 Mar. 2019.  

Wood-Martin, William Gregory. The Lake Dwellings of Ireland: or, Ancient Lacustrine Habitaions of Erin, Commonly Called Crannogs.  Dublin : Hodges, Figgis & co.,; [etc., etc.], 1886.  Date accessed 1-14-26 from https://archive.org/details/lakedwellingsofi00woodiala/page/254/mode/2up

Ground Beef Stroganoff

 Ground Beef Stroganoff

I tweaked my recipe tonight and really liked how it ended up! So as not to forget what I did...

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef

• 3 cups dry noodles (spiral or similar size)

• 1 large onion, diced

• 1.5 c. sour cream

• 1-2 c. broth

• 3 Tbsp butter, divided

• Salt, pepper, onion powder

• 1 Tbsp stone ground mustard

Directions:

Boil noodles for 10 minutes, then strain and set aside.  While these are boiling, add 1Tbsp butter to the skillet and cook diced onion until translucent.  Remove and set aside.  Add a little more butter to the skillet if needed and then brown beef seasoned with salt pepper and onion powder.  When fully browned, add remaining butter and cooked onions.  Once melted whisk in 2 Tbsp of flour, and continue to mix while cooking for 1 minute.  To this pour in broth and mustard slowly while whisking.  Once fully combined and starting to thicken, add in sour cream, then noodles.  Season with more pepper to taste.