Below are displayed some of my commissioned works.  Please send me e-mail if you wish to commission something from me.

As a rough guideline, an original A4, letter-size, or 11" x 14" page with a 2-4 verse poem, some goldwork, and a flower/scroll border will cost $100-$200 US, depending on how fancy it is.  A wedding certificate with a detailed border will typically cost $200 - $400 US.  Larger miniatures of figures and scenery are more expensive (they're lots more work)—as a rough estimate, add $10 per single figure and $50 per complete miniature painting.

Click here for some samples of page borders, ranging from very simple to quite complex.

Designs are typically agreed on by e-mail;  I generally do a couple of rough mock-ups and we refine it from there.  Once a scan of the final design is approved, I ask for half the fee as a deposit before I go ahead with the work, with the balance due when it is finished.  (If the whole fee is under $100 US, I usually waive the deposit.)

Many of the pieces below are painted on parchmentine, which is a heavy (230gsm), archival-quality pH-neutral paper with much of the look and feel of real parchment (vellum),  by far the nearest substitute I've found to the real thing.  It is distributed by Spicer's Paper in Australia.

Bible Quote This piece was  commissioned by one of my friends as a present for her new partner. The border is based on the Visconti Hours (c 1400), and the minatures on the International Gothic style from the same period. Painted in gouache on parchmentine, with 23ct gold on  PVA size, it is slightly over A4 in size  and cost $175 AUD. See details of the crucifixion and the miniature of Paradise.

 

Heraldic Library Paintings My client  commissioned a pair of library paintings of the heraldic coat of arms of the Duke di Palma, from who their family is originally descended, for her twin brothers' birthday.   They are painted in gouache on parchmentine, and are A4 size. The goldwork is 24ct on PVA size;  the "silver" is aluminium leaf (real silver tarnishes very quickly, alas).   The cost was $150 AUD. Click on the thumbnail to the right to see the pair of paintings on the scribal slope on my art desk.  (The slope was a 50th birthday present from one of my friends, and is excellent to work on, as well as being beautiful.)

 

Wedding Song This song was written for his own wedding by the father of the lady who commissioned this piece, and sung by him at his children's weddings. The border is based on the Peterborough Psalter (c 1300), with the figures at the base of the page based on the Luttrel Psalter (1345). Painted in gouache on parchmentine, with 23ct gold on plaster-based gesso and PVA size, it measures 28cm x 35.5cm (11" x 14") and cost  $175 US. Click here for details of the beggars with their magic brew, the wedding table, and ladies with their wine.

 

Anniversary Poem The text is a sonnet written by a friend for his wife, as an anniversary present. It is painted in the style of the Mira Monumenta Calligraphica (early 1600s), in gouache on parchmentine, and measures 28 x 35.5 cm (11 x 14"). The goldwork is 24ct on PVA size. The cost was $150 AUD.

Wedding Reading Her husband's Bible reading from their wedding is the text of this A4 piece, which was commissioned by the wife as an anniversary present for him. The border and initial are based on the Prayerbook of Michellino da Bessozo, Italy, c. 1410, a beautiful little gem of a book from the Pierpoint Morgan Library. Painted in gouache on parchmentine, with Gothic Textura Quadrata calligraphy;  the cost was US$130.

 

Statement of Marriage These wedding vows, which have had the text blurred for privacy reasons, are surrounded by a mid-1400s border of stylised acanthus leaves and delicate flower sprays. The myriad gleaming golden roundels add further visual interest and supplement the golden border and arches. The whole work included a second page with the same border but no text, for the guests to sign. Both pieces are 28 x 35.5 cm (11 x 14"), and are painted in gouache on parchmentine. The goldwork is 24ct and PVA size, plus shell gold in the acanthus leaves. The cost was $300 US for the two pages.

Wedding Vows This piece, which measures 28cm x 35.5cm (11" x 14"), is a surprisingly compatible mixture of 800s Celtic knotwork and 1470s strewn-flower borders. Gilding the knotwork and surrounding it with the same green as the flower background provides consistency and helps create a harmonious, organic-form whole from the disparate parts. Although by no means in strict medieval form, it nevertheless retains the ambience of bygone centuries. It is painted on parchmentine. The names have been replaced for privacy consideratons; the cost was $240 US.

Illuminated Prayerbook This prayerbook,which measures 7cm x 9cm (2 3/4" x 3 1/2", is in the style of a Medieval Book of Hours from Flanders around 1465. It comprises an Ave Maria, a Lord's Prayer, an Apostles' Creed, and several short prayers from a 1958 version of the Catholic Pocket Manual. It was commissioned by a friend who had seen my Psalter (web page on the way), and wanted a present for her devout daughter-in-law, who had just presented her with a grandson to follow a very cute granddaughter. I charged $250 AUS for it, but this is much below its real value; $500 would have been rather more appropriate. Click here for a link to the page describing this book in more detail.

Wedding Certificate This piece is a wedding certificate for a couple in Virginia, USA, commisioned by the bride as a gift for the groom. She said "Keith thinks it's great!!! You're welcome to use us as a reference for other work." It is painted in gouache on calligraphy paper, with 24ct gilding on PVA-based size, and measures 35.5 cm x 28 cm (14" x 11"). The cost was $180 US. Click here for detail of the bride and groom.

Viking Wedding Invitation This piece, which measures about 40 cm x 29 cm (15.5" x 11.5"), was a wedding invitation for some friends in the SCA (a medieval-ambience social and educational society). By their request, it is a mixture of 15th century German (the coats-of-arms and Fraktur script) and 800s Celtic (the border and capital "U"), and oddly enough they go very well together. Keeping the colour scheme consistent helped this, of course. It was painted in gouache on calligraphy paper, and they reduced it to A4 size for the photocopied invitations. They were very pleased with it, and now have the original framed on their wall. I charged $150 Australian for it (about $90 US).

Desiderata This piece is based on a late 14th century Venetian manuscript, with the border somewhat simplified. It is painted in gouache on goat parchment (vellum), has raised goldwork on plaster-based gesso, and measures 33cm x 25cm (13" x 9.8"). The calligraphy is Gothic Textura Quadrata. What really amazed me about this piece was that I actaully managed to get the whole damn Desiderata into the space I had available for it! I charged $250 Australian (about $150 US) for it, which included the cost of the vellum. This worked out to about $10/hour;  I don't think I'll give up the day job just yet :-(

Hippocratic Oath A Hippocratic Oath for a doctor, designed as a master for copying. The original has a blank space instead of the doctor's name, plain yellow instead of the simulated gilding on this scan, and the caduceus coloured in red, yellow, and green instead of "gilded". It measures 25cm x 20cm (10" x 8"), and was painted on white card stock; the calligraphy is Humanist Bookhand, with short "S"s instead of the proper long ones (for modern readability). I charged $80 US, which included an alphabet he could scan for filling in other doctors' names. Here is what he said when he received it : I finally received the piece...it's beautiful...thanks on a job well done. Take care... and thanks again. David K. Butler, MD

23rd Psalm in French This was designed to be photocopied as graduation presents for an adult education class in French. The original has all the spaces for the gilding left blank, as I hand-gilded the photocopies. I have tried to simulate the effect of gilding in this scan, as it looks rather odd with just white space. Based on a late-1300s French border, it is A4 (11.75" x 8.25", roughly US letter), painted on parchment-like calligraphy paper, and the calligraphy is Gothic Textura Quadrata. The damage at the top of this piece is accidental, not deliberate "ageing"--my portfolio went through a fire. My fee for this was a very nice wooden bowl, which is sitting on my dresser.

Mead Guard Scroll Good fighters in the SCA in Lochac (Australia) may be appointed to the Mead Guard of the current Prince. This is largely a ceremonial post, but does indeed involve bottles of mead, which are typically "guarded" very closely by the appointees. Indeed, one might almost say the guards and the mead become as one... Again, the original commissioned by this particular Prince was designed as a master to be copied, and the original was painted without gilding and the photocopies hand-gilded. As in the above pieces, I have tried to simulate the effect of gilding in this scan. The inital "U" holds the Mead Guard's heraldic device (a windmill, for tilting at). The battle scene at the foot of the page is adapted from a bas-de-page miniature from the Hours of Marguerite of Orleans, a very beautiful French Book of Hours from the second quarter of the 1400s. The battle standard to the left of the centre oak tree has the heraldic arms of the Prince of Lochac. A4 (11.5" x 8.24"), on white watercolour paper, Gothic Textura Quadrata hand. My fee? Well, the spiced mead was very yummy...

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