"Build it and they will come"

Here's my solution: "Build it and they will come." (The ideas, that is.) Wasn't that said in the movie Field of Dreams? What if I try to build a model of what I'm thinking of?

I'm excited about this! Having found through my previous work that I work very successfully when I have something to refer to, the concept of being able to create my reference, and not just rely on photographs of actual people and places, could be a game changer for me. If I could mock-up a scene, I could play with the placement of characters and "set pieces," until I saw the arrangement I'm looking for. Then I could draw it, or photograph it and work from that. Unique method? Hardly. Here's what I found on Wikipedia:

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux' maquette 

for the fountain he donated to Valenciennes

Maquette: A maquette (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names plastico or modello) is a small scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is bozzetto, from the Italian word that means "sketch." It is used to visualize and test shapes and ideas without incurring the cost and effort of producing a full scale product.The term may also refer to a prototype for a video game, film, or any other type of product. It is the analogue of the painter's cartoon, modello, oil sketch or drawn sketch. Modello, unlike the other terms, is also used for sketches for two-dimensional works such as paintings..Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a sculptor from the Baroque period, made his bozzetti from wax or baked terracotta to show his patrons how the final piece was intended to look. Eleven of these bozzetti were displayed in an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004.[1] Some museums specialise in collections of maquettes, such as the Museo dei Bozzetti in Pietrasanta ,Italy.