Hello! Hello! So, since I have spent the past 4 days talking about personal stuff, and this blog was initially intended to be my art blog, I figure it’s time to get back on track.
Now, I do have loads of completed artwork, some framed, some sold, some prints, a little bit of everything, but they are complete, finished.
So here is my question: Why do I have so many incomplete pieces? It’s not that I don’t like them, after all if I didn’t I have learned I can just paint over them and do something else….no, it’s definitely not that. Most of my unfinished work is stuff I really, really like, and all of it I enjoy doing. It’s just that it seems somewhere along the line…I get STUCK…..really stuck, like in quicksand stuck and decide to put it aside. My reasoning for putting it aside is that when I get to that point of stuckness (is that a word?) I feel if I continue t that particular moment, I will do something to make me NOT like it. And then, it never gets finished.
I am sure there are many artists out there can relate to this…I know you are out there. I just want to know if anyone has an answer, or a solution.
Take the painting above…..I can’t tell you how much I love this painting. The background was originally painted by myself and my grandson in 2014. I sat and looked at it for a year before I decided what I wanted to do with it. You can’t really see from the photo but it is 3 dimensional. The red Chuck Taylors, the pile of books on my head, they were all painted on a separate piece of watercolor and cut out and glued on. Even the flags are pieces of card stock and material. I even at one point redid the face entirely. I have a pretty good idea of what else I want to add, but I got stuck on one of the 3D pieces and stopped. And there it has sat, staring back at me day after day….waiting to be finished.
There are quite a number of these in my studio, and I keep promising myself I am going to go back and finish them all…but instead I usually start on something else.
Oh well, if anyone can help, please feel free to comment. And if I ever finish any of these I will let you know.
Gypsy Angel Row 
Oh yes I understand this. I pack most of them away. I have several large canvases that are unfinished and have warped for goodness sake. I go where the energy is, where I can find inspiration and most of the time it’s not in old work. Since you asked for advice: Sometimes, though, I dabble a little on a painting until I find the spark. Then, I’m able to finish it. Or, I carry on conversations with my work. Are you finished? no? What do you need to be finished? And the painting will tell me. It’s weird, but it’s a different way to listen to my intuition or creativity. Good luck!
Amy
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Your paintings are wonderful. I don’t have any suggestions for unfinished paintings. I have several that I look at every day and just can’t move forward on. I think, in my case, I might need to just commit to one and stop working on several things at once. I get overwhelmed and nothing gets done.
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Your paintings are wonderful. I don’t have any suggestions for unfinished paintings. I have several that I look at every day and just can’t move forward on. I think, in my case, I might need to just commit to one and stop working on several things at once. I get overwhelmed and nothing gets done.
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