The sketch at left is the client's pick from several rough sketches that I did and emailed to Claude for consideration. The main purpose of the sketches was to explore different ideas and compositions.

Note: The summer before this project began, I was fortunate enough to take a two-week bicycling vacation to the Bordeaux region of France. We (35 people) cycled 500 miles through the Bordeaux wine country and even stayed one night in the medieval town of Saint-Emilion. I hope this trip helped me do a better job for this Saint-Emilion based chateau, but even if it didn't, it was my best vacation ever.

After viewing the rough pencil sketches, Claude emailed me back with his and his client's pick and gave me the official nod to begin the finished scratchboard rendering:

This sketch can now be transferred to a piece of scratchboard, and I can start the finished rendering—see step 4.