Another set of stained glass windows are now in the process of being designed.  Usually my husband shows me the first of the cartoons he puts together in the search for a creative design that we will both find pleasing.  This time, nothing of the sort.  He sequestered himself downstairs in his workshop, stretched out a long piece of blank drawing paper to the equivalent size of each window and began the process.  Beside him lay books and magazines opened to inspirational paintings.

Days later when curiosity finally drove me to observe what he had so far created, what I saw rather surprised me.  It was the careful drawing in great detail of a moose, its massive size and antlers dominating a landscape.  It was beautifully crafted, and I told him so.  I also reminded him of my reaction to any paintings I've ever seen that featured moose, and he laughed, admitting that this is why he hadn't bothered consulting me. 

He views the topic as a challenge to his stained-glass creativity and he was anxious to see if he could surmount any technical difficulties he might encounter along the way.  He was consulting various paintings and using them as inspiration for what he was carefully placing on paper.  With the bull moose, he said, there will be a female counterpart on the facing window.  Pairs are often shown together, he explained.

These windows are to be placed atop the first-level windows in the family room, not yet covered with stained glass.  Where the first-level windows have been devoted to the Canadian landscape and birds typical of that landscape, quite unlike more exotic windows that have been installed in the living room side of the house.

This will doubtless represent my husband's major project during the coming winter of 2012-13.