I wanted to make a quick introduction to the forum as a new AHS member. I was bitten by the heraldry bug back in college and have been an admirer and student ever since. I live in Richmond, Virginia and travel extensively for work.
After many months, and many drafts, I am pleased to share with you my arms. The digital drawing was done by Canadian Heraldic artist, Steve Cowan. I highly recommend him. I wanted something that represented my home state (West Virginia) as well as my adopted state of Virginia. Additionally, I wanted my patron saint, Chad of Lichfield, honored to pun my name. The barry wavy indicate my love of being on the water, especially fishing. I wanted something relatively simple and clear.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9FFKcwaiYiA/U8Qpg43QhcI/AAAAAAAADzQ/ujlvSjhbwoA/s220/cmk+coa+1.jpg
While I don’t yet have the crest/motto drawn digitally, here is the full blazon.
Arms: Per chevron Gules and barry wavy Argent and Azure, in chief two dogwood flowers (cornus florida) proper and in base a cross of Saint Chad of the first;
Crest: On a wreath of Gules and Argent, a Cardinal’s head erased clutching in its beak a lilly seeded proper;
Motto: Ich Mache Recht ("I make right")
My main focus for research these days is on the life and work of Pierre de Chaignon la Rose. I’ve built a roll of arms, now over 130, that la Rose devised during his lifetime. Even managed to land a photograph of him in addition to tracking down caches of his work. I find him fascinating, to say the least!
Welcome to the group. A study of La Rose is a very worthy project. You may have already seen that we decided last year to name our AHS design award after him.
Your arms are very attractive, but you may want to tell your Canadian artist that the dogwood we know in Virginia, C. florida, has four petals, not five.
Alas, you’re correct! I’ll keep the blazon as it is and will likely get another rendering by another artist in the near future. One thing at a time! Thanks.
Welcome aboard - Nice arms!
As for the dogwood petals, a little cut-&-paste work, either physically or electronically, should do the job! (Not that I’d actually cut-&-paste the original artwork - heraldically correct or not, that would IMO be unneeded vandalism - a color xerox is less risky to work on.)
Would you consider posting/linkingyour compilation of Pierre de Chaignon la Rose’s work on our home page, assuming our Board is agreeable & no copyright problems with the artwork? My motto is "more eye-candy is always better!" - and in this case, should be quite interesting heraldically.
Chad, welcome to the group-! I really like your arms.
Michael F. McCartney;102290 wrote:
My motto is "more eye-candy is always better!"
On second thought, would it be simpler to drop the specific name from the blazon? Or does that leave it too open?
Would love to see your roll of arms, Chad. And welcome to our merry band.
cmkrouse;102297 wrote:
On second thought, would it be simpler to drop the specific name from the blazon? Or does that leave it too open?
I don’t think the blazon is the issue. If the intention is to allude to Virginia, it needs to be the one that is the state flower, the four-petalled version.
Good point. I’ve contacted Steve to see how it got the five petals in his research. Maybe it will lead to a reworking so as to keep the blazon correct and properly show the cornus florida.
Welcome, Chad!
I think many (most?) of the dogwood flowers granted by the Canadian Heraldic Authority are to folks whose arms allude to British Columbia and the pacific dogwood has five petals. If your Canadian artist used the CHA as a guide on how to depict dogwood blossoms in heraldry, it stands to reason you’d wind up with what you got.
Fortunately, it’s not inaccurate. Just wrong.
And he lives in BC! Well, hopefully I get some justification on this and do a reworking of the flowers. I am, just as my arms, a work in progress!
cmkrouse;102306 wrote:
And he lives in BC!
Ah, then perhaps he simply has no point of reference for the 4-petal variety. I’m sure, if that’s the case, he will make it right.
There’s likely a lesson here re: being as specific as may be needed in commissioning heraldic artwork, especially when it includes flora or fauna beyond the heraldic commonplaces & a local reference is intended. Even when specificity would be extraneous in a formal blazon, if you have something specific in mind it’s best to specify.
Not throwing rocks - in this case it’s apparent that neither Chad in WVA or his artist in BC had any clue that "my dogwood" doesn’t necessarily equal "your dogwood."
IIRC - which I may not, getting older each year - there was some past discussion here in the not too distant past re: different ways to draw dogwood blossoms. We sometimes stumble on such local differences in our discussions on-line, where several heads in different locales are better, or at least more thorough, than one or two.
Welcome!
I blazon the dogwood in my badge as "an Eastern Dogwood blossom Argent"...
http://www.armorial-register.com/arms-us/arms-images-us/pope-dl-badge.jpg