Above is the template for the Book of Hours class. Again, it is an A7 page (A6 folded in half = A7). Dimensions of folded book, which is the same as a single page (NOT double page spread but just one page) are 7.5 x 10.5 cm. It's based on the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry and I've extended the calendar from the top to create a frame within a frame, which is OPTIONAL - we won't be using it for each Hour (I will only likely use it once: included it here in the master template).
Use a tiny brush (I used a Rocks brush from theperfectbrush.co.uk) to create the tiny segments in the arches. There are 8 Hours so you'll need to prepare 8 of these in advance. I'm using 8 separate pages (you may wish to do 4 double pages with 8 sides in total). I don't recommend doing reversible pages this time as it'll get confusing.
The format is this: I will explain the visual calendar above (again adapted from the Tres Riches Heures but for a modern, international Gregorian calendar) which rests in the arches and hemisphere. We'll record ourselves and our times in these and fill them in. Since it's over the course of one day, you will only see a single arch progress. Alternatively, if you choose to complete the book over several days with the video recordings (or even months!) you can record the calendar accordingly.
Within the frame I'll paint my favourite markers of human civilisation: the anthropocene collapsed into a day. Which is not unrealistic, considering the blip of time we've actually been around on Earth. This is of course highly subjective but I've chosen great works of architecture as my markers, eg. the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, and one which may surprise you... and which for me is the reason for the frame within the frame! I'll reveal these over the course of the classes. Yours may differ and you may not choose to use architecture. There are 8 Hours, so think about that.
In the margins I'll be using my Miniature Painting Paper Doll drawing aid (here: https://www.vaishaliprazmariteaching.com) to compose a figure in the margin in the position of my own cycle of sleep/wakeful state/rest/lunch or whatever I'm doing in that Hour. Thus it serves as a marker of an 'ideal day'/rhythm as well as a record and archive of what I did that particular day/time. Of course, using the Medieval monastic sense, and being a monk for a day, as nobody I know really gets up at 3am. However, I am occasionally awake at 3am, having stayed up through the night, which is different.
Basically the point is to redefine our relationship with time and thinking about measures as well as having fun painting a Medieval-inspired Book of Hours for our (my/your) times!
Oh - and there will be some little grotesques. Here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/rainbow-coloured-beasts-from-15th-century-book-of-hours/