Title: Serenity Prayer II
Media: watercolor, walnut ink and gold on vellum with an under layer of Arches Text Wove
Size of Original: 9 x 14 inches

The original is lettered on vellum. Vellum often refers to a kind of paper or paper finish. In this case, the vellum is actually calfskin - on which ancient manuscripts were lettered. Vellum is prepared by doing a lot of sanding with fine sandpaper, pumice and gum sandarac.

The design was planned to take advantage of the beautiful transparency of the vellum, so an under-layer of lettering was done on Arches Text Wove paper. Lettering on the vellum was done with gouache after pouncing and rubbing finely ground gum sandarac onto the vellum to help it accept the gouache and give clean, crisp lines. The final presentation for this piece was to wrap the two layers (paper with text and the vellum with text) around a board.

The initial ‘G’ was done with gum ammoniac and 23K patent gold.

Reinhold Niebuhr, the author of the text, was given a prominent location in the overall design by placement on the left in a vertical line.