Having completed initial sketches of the memorial windows, I’ve now decided that I am sufficiently satisfied with them to start stage two. This involves drawing on good quality watercolour paper, to a scale of 40% of the full size. That’s actually quite a big drawing, about 70 cms. high. The original sketches have been squared up and the material for the left hand window transferred. I was surprised at how difficult the transfer/copying process is, with diversions from the original creeping in all over the place. With the drawing completed and lined in with felt-tipped pen it has been possible to see how the composition could be improved. Corrections can be made using titanium white acrylic. Since the image involves lots of balanced curves, getting these correct is by no means easy.
Then I have had to make a significant choice about the medium to use to provide colour. After some experiments I settled on coloured pencils. The stained glass book I have acquired suggests using pastels, but these are too messy and difficult to correct. I thought about both acrylic and watercolour, but I’ve settled on coloured pencils. These actually work very well. Perhaps it isn’t possible to get the intensity of the colour I would like, but for convenience and flexibility they work very well. At the end of a whole day of sustained effort I have the second stage for one window completed.
There a