The Two Monks Check Their Work

MONK #1: theres more than one way to hang somebody

yes?

MONK #2: how do you mean

MONK #1: well i know the usual way

ropes and height and so on

but is there another way to do it

MONK #2: gosh im struggling to think of one

MONK #1: like maybe they just put you at the top of a very tall ladder

and the top is maybe a little pinchy...?

MONK #2: oh the ladder method!

MONK #1: the ladder method!

i knew i was thinking of something

MONK #2: no, this looks great, i like how you included both ways here

MONK #1: i wont forget it this time

sometimes they do it with ladders

MONK #1: well ive done it again

i started an archer and i was SO sure id left enough room to finish it without running into my protuberances

MONK #2: i actually think they look great together

MONK #1: youre putting me on!!

im gonna have to stop and start over

MONK #2: but why?

i think it makes him look great

it gets predictable and honestly boring if every time you start an archer you finish with an archer's legs

protuberances, though

thatll really wake everybody up!

MONK #1: do you feel like its clear whats going on here

MONK #2: i mean it looks GREAT

i love the tower, i love the little horse and its waterfall of wigs for hair, love the floating escutcheons

MONK #1: you don't think the thing she's handing him looks a little unfinished?

MONK #2: i guess it depends on what shes handing him

is it a scroll? it could kind of be a scroll, or another escutcheon

MONK #1: thats sort of my problem

i dont really know what women in towers usually hand men

MONK #2: i love the scales on the back part of the horse, too

MONK #1: all right dont get mad at me but i decided to stop and start over

MONK #2: im not mad i just think it was really good to begin with! but this looks great too

MONK #1: shes giving him a big ring with flowers on

because i think when women give men presents its usually a single concrete thing and not just a sort of representation of thing-ness

also the horse has switched to form of ladder

MONK #1: and youll notice i have added a mostly invisible knight with antlers who is floating and looking over them

MONK #2: i did notice that!

MONK #1: and hes carrying his shield in his mouth because he is also part invisible dog

his name is Ranulph the Imperceptible and he is the Duke of Swabia

MONK #2: i like him

i also like how youve done the hands for our visible man in the middle

MONK #1: oh thank you!

MONK #2: because that is what hands look like when youre climbing a ladder to receive a gift

MONK #1: so im still working on the hands motif

MONK #2: i love the big splashy hand on the fellow in blue

the webbing is so confident

MONK #1: but I just wanted to make sure i had kissing right before i sent it upstairs

MONK #2: well im no expert but i think this ticks all the boxes

MONK #1: have i made the fellow look sick enough, do you think?

MONK #2: yes he does look very ill

and he's got some cloth wrapped around his head, to hold the fever in, that's good

and i think it's right how they're both facing the viewer

MONK #1: and thats about the right color for a womans skin, you think?

MONK #2: oh i should think so

anything that matches her dress, really

MONK #2: i see that our friend Ranulph the Imperceptible has returned!

MONK #1: no Ranulph has antlers and more of a dog on his escutcheon

this is Buchard Never-Seen, of Nitra and Greater Moravia, as you can tell by the spray of peacock feathers just over his helm

i ran out of room again but i think they still look like peacock feathers

MONK #2: very much

MONK #2: youve really captured something essential about birds here i think

and how often when they look like they should be falling, that's really when they're flying the most

MONK #1: and youll notice on the bottom right ive drawn a fellow and his horse very small indeed

MONK #2: oh so you have!

whats the meaning there?

MONK #1: i havent decided yet

just came to me

MONK #2: i love it

MONK #1: there are two things i still find really tricky

and thats remembering when to draw a crown on someone

MONK #2: right, because if you do it before you finish the head, you cant finish the head

MONK #1: exactly and if i do it after the head it looks like its just floating in from a different picture

MONK #2: but it hink you nailed it this time

MONK #1: thank you!

and reins in hands, thats my other problem

its my bête noire

MONK #2: i didnt know you knew French!

MONK #1: really just bête noire is all

MONK #2: still, that's French!

MONK #1: its hardly French

MONK #2: you cant say its not French!

say it again?

MONK #1: bête noire

MONK #2: and with the accent and everything!

i think you ought to be the new French master, and im telling Father Berold later

MONK #1: i really just wanted help with the reins in the second fellow's hands!

MONK #2: they look great

and the size of your falcon and those horse's jaws are great too

say it again!!!

MONK #1: ahahhaa

bête noire

MONK #2: French!!!!

MONK #2: oh youve made one of the fellows small again!

MONK #1: yes i had such a nice time with it last time i thought id try it a second time

MONK #2: i just love it

you know i noticed the other day that people to the bottom right of things are often quite small

MONK #1: oh, had you noticed that too?

MONK #2: yes and sometimes people are very small at the top and then get bigger as they go on

MONK #1: and here he is again

MONK #2: smaller and smaller!

MONK #2: these are just getting better and better

you know you can tell the painter spoke French just by looking at this

MONK #1: !!!

MONK #1: now here ive got the crowns right at last

MONK #2: they look amazing

MONK #1: but its almost like mastering one thing knocks something out of my head because now this chessboard doesnt look right

i did a chessboard pattern floor earlier that looked amazing

MONK #2: this looks right to me

MONK #1: but surely a chessboard has more pieces than this

and it doesn't sit straight up between the fellows playing it

MONK #2: doesnt it?

MONK #1: well i thought it didn't

MONK #2: listen i think it looks fine but even if it doesnt

its probably better for a monk not to know TOO much about chess

we are not here to play games

we are here to pray 12 hours a day and draw birds into Bibles

dont lose sight of that

MONK #1: youre right

i wont

MONK #2: dont let it become your bête noir

was that the right use of bête noir this time?

MONK #1: yes thats exactly how they use it in France

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