Or so they say. Tackling the windows project certainly requires a change in my work practice, and I’m beginning to think that whatever the outcome it could be refreshing.
It has become clear that I am actually going to be required to draw these windows three times. The first version is a strategic planning exercise, in which I make sure that all the required elements are there, and in an acceptable composition and with a good balance of colours. This will then form the basis for a second drawing, intended to resemble pretty closely the final design. This second version will be subject to the scrutiny (and I hope, approval) of the panel at the National Defence Academy, and will be offered for technical advice to the man who will actually manufacture the windows. Once past this stage, I will need to draw a final version, taking into consideration their comment as well as my own continuing reflection on the design.
I suppose that, like many artists, I have tended in the past to think that when I embark on a picture it will either work (in which case it is framed and exhibited) or it doesn’t work (in which case it is junked). I have known in theory that good artists often subject their work to several revisions, in as quest to develop the potential in the original idea. Now, it seems, I am compelled to learn the lessons of that method. I hope that I might discover some benefit to take forward into my work more generally. It is certainly an interesting process.