a new challenge

this year i am taking on the chairman's challenge ..... i think the fact that it is a 4" square makes it more appealing to me than some earlier challenges - the brief is:

• a 4x4" square, which will form part of a wall hanging with lots of other 4x4" squares 
• to be hung in a multi-faith hospital chapel 
• theme: hertfordshire
• palette: at least one from the bright jewel colours of the nearby stained glass window, also commissioned for the chapel

so i've chosen my source: the carvings of royston cave - i like their simplicity and feel them to be appropriate as they are mainly religious and faith related images which are unique to hertfordshire - so they fit in terms of theme and location

from "A Medeival Mystery At The Crossroads"
PT Houldcroft

some of the images are common in several faiths and cultures ... hands, hearts and doves at least, so i will probably focus on these rather than the human figures which are more specific (saints, monarchs, apostles)

i don't want to get involved in delving into the knights templar symbolism or the history and theories about the cave and its purpose ....i'm not going all dan brown with this!

what really struck me this morning was that it is only 4x4 inches ....... small ..... it will be surrounded by other squares, so fine detail and a busy design probably won't work - they aren't exactly my first choice anyway - but my mental picture so far had included too many images, so the plan now is to simplify - back to the drawing board

the brief also refers to a stained glass window ..... so i am thinking about a stained glass window style, using one or more of the cave images - this could give small bright, bold images which would be recognisable at a distance

i think that's a good beginning