I’ve been working on importing my art into Inkscape, and am learning how to edit and vectorize the images. Hopefully, eventually, all of this will turn into a coloring book. I’m still pretty new with the software and haven’t been able to do everything I wanted with it, but it’s been fun to learn something new. Here’s something I made, based on an Armenian illuminated manuscript page depicting the Nativity.
Download the coloring page here:
I took the English translation of a sharagan (hymn) about St. Nicholas, arranged it in a Word doc with a decorated first letter (a la old manuscript style), printed it, and had the kids rip up/glue yellow paper to make a frame around the prayer. The sharagan is sung on St. Nicholas’s feast day, which is almost always the third Saturday of Advent in the Armenian church. (I think it was moved this year, because the 3rd Saturday of Advent fell on Dec 9th – one of the Armenian church’s few fixed feasts, when we celebrate the conception of Mary.) I grabbed the translation of the sharagan from “Saints Nicholas in Armenia,” linked to by the Eastern Diocese here and you can also find the full publication on Google Scholar. It’s not a very user-friendly / modern / usable / readable translation, to me at least, but fussing with it is way beyond my abilities so I left it as is for now. Maybe someday will redo. Download the doc below to make your own.
“The bodiless ones were amazed when they saw blessed Nicholas, whose conduct in the body was without compare to those possessing a body. By his prayers, entreat forgiveness of sins.
Rejoice, Mother Sion, and ineffably adorn your bridal chamber, for blessed Nicholas in his body has triumphed over bodiless Beliar. By his prayers, entreat forgiveness of sins.
Imploring, we sinners entreat you, Most Holy Trinity, to forgive our sins by the supplications of Nicholas. By his prayers, entreat forgiveness of sins.
Holy lady, Mary, golden urn and ark of the covenants, who gave the gift of the Bread of life from heaven to our starving natures. Intercede always with him for the expiation of our sins.”
St. Jacob (Hagop) of Nisibis is an important Saint in our lives, being the namesake of our parish, and an important family name. Last year? the year before?, I made a cute little maze activity page (St. Hagop of Nisibis Activity Page) to recognize the day and give the kids something to do. I’ve been sick the last few weeks and it was a ridiculously busy weekend, so I didn’t have a chance to make an updated/more challenging maze. But I also didn’t want to let the day go by without marking it or making something. So here’s the product of playing with some fonts… ha! A line from one of St. Gregory of Narek’s hymns, about Saint Jacob (Soorp Hagop) of Nisibis.
If anyone actually wants to use this, here’s the PDF version…
Here’s some more trchnakir bird calligraphy I’ve done recently. I love the “Zaven” one even though it’s pretty different from ones I’ve done in the past. That big beak thing is really speaking to me. “Shahan” was the front of a birthday card, my son asked me to draw it for a friend. And “Saro” was inspired by a super cool Saro who teaches at our Armenian Saturday School.
“Hisnag” is effectively Armenian Advent. It is 50 days long, leading up to Armenian Christmas. Here are a few coloring/activity pages related to this time of year, and the number 50.
Trying some new styles, and finally coloring in other trchnakir name doodles from a long time ago.
I don’t have a chummy story for this one. I’ve been sick, it’s been a terrible month for Armenians and the world. I can’t bring myself to write some cutesy story. Here’s a craft we made for Exaltationtide. Instructions in the PDF are courtesy of Chat GPT, with minor edits, so sorry if they’re phrased weird.
Print the first page on any color paper you like, and the second on green paper. (Or print both on white printer paper, then color things in!) Cut the bunches of basil leaves out, then use them to play “pin the basil on the cross” a la “pin the tail on the donkey.” Enjoy!
Made a bunch of these to use with my kids throughout September, for Armenian Independence Day on September 21. They’re not as polished as you might see in a coloring book, but they’re fine enough for our use, so here you go:
There are also four cute Armenian flag coloring pages on this site: https://kidadl.com/free-coloring-pages/armenia-flag
Just sharing some photos of a recent commission and my process, in case anyone is interested!
I use two pieces of sketching paper and a light board, to make sure I have the letters measured out and spaced apart the way I want them. I put one piece of paper on top of the other, and trace certain shapes, to make sure they match (almost) exactly. See the ն here. (And ignore the green scribble, courtesy of my 2yr old Zabel.)
Then you can see the final spaced out version, again still just on sketching paper.
Then I start adding some of the bird details I think I might want to do, and more specific tail/wing shapes. I try to make sure there’s a balance of “hard” and “soft” shapes, and that details in one part of the picture are matched or referenced somewhere else. These might not be the final shapes or patterns I use, but it starts to give me ideas.
Next, I’ll transfer all of this over onto the nice, final paper, and start outlining it in ink. (Somewhere along the way, I’ll start color swatching, and I’ll take some photos of that too.)
Here you can see just outlines of the shapes, inked on final paper. Then I add in the most basic color blocking – vegetation is green and yellow, feet orange, beaks orange or yellow.
Then, penciling in the patterns. Then inking in the patterns, when I’m seeing them fit together and know I want to keep them 😊
Then adding color, filling in patterns and details, coloring sections, and on and on…
Putting on finishing touches… Whiting out and going over sections I don’t love, adding detail with sparkly gel or paint pens, re-outlining everything…
Hye Home 