by Marilyn Peck (Author)
This is the second book in Marilyn Peck's Sir Gawain trilogy of stories in the Arthurian tradition, this one written by an unknown poet, possibly Mallory. "Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady, The Wedding of Sir Gawain", survives in a poorly copied 16th century manuscript located in the Bodleian Library. It was written after Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale", one of the "Canterbury Tales". Both tales have similar plots. Author, poet and artist Marilyn Peck translated the poem from Middle English. She wrote her poem in the format used by the anonymous poet of "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight" written earlier, probably in the 14th century. She then created 44 watercolour paintings inspired by the poem, and used the paintings to illustrate her book. All the paintings are embellished with gold leaf, palladium leaf, or a combination of the two precious metals. Tiny images have been carved into the gilding. The paintings are all miniatures and they have been reproduced in their actual sizes in the book. The author has also created illuminated initials to start each quatrain in the poem.
Author Biography
Australian-born Marilyn Peck started her art career as a commercial and lithographic artist in 1949. Her creative career began as a fabric designer for two Melbourne manufacturers in 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s, she started exhibiting as a fine artist and is now recognised in the USA, Canada, UK and Australia as a miniaturist. She was instrumental in the formation of four Australian Societies of Miniature Art and was Founder and foundation president of ASMA Queensland. "The Waste Land Suite", published by Macmillan in 2004 established her as an artist and writer. Her career as a poet started to take off when she won three prizes in the 2005 National poetry and National Short story competition, organised by the Society of Women Writers NSW. From 2011 to the present day, her poetry has been selected for publication in Quadrant. In 2013 she published her first novel, "Dragon Bone Consortium", a thrilling tale set in tropical Queensland and based on the still-missing archaeological relics of Peking Man. She has a website at marilynpeck.com.