A Huge Steaming Pile of... uh... Unfinished Business

There is a troll in my studio... in the form of a dust covered stack of unfinished or discarded paintings. Without exception, each of these orphaned canvases began with the spark of a solid idea, fanned into the flame of enthusiastic effort, only to burn out short of my expectations. Some are the result of poor planning... painting myself into the proverbial corner with no immediately foreseeable way out. Others have been smacked down by substandard reference material and are still waiting for their creator's magical day in the field to inspire their destiny. A few have been recycled over the years and reside in impressive collections hidden behind multiple layers of gesso and paint. Still... most just sit there facing the corner like rotten school children in perpetual punishment.

For some reason, the arrival of the new year has nearly put a halt to my production. I've been working here in the studio as much as ever, but I can't seem to complete a painting (with the exception of "Muleys and Sage"). I've been kicking around ideas for entries in the 2010 Birds in Art exhibit... one still on the easel and another already banished to the corner of the troll. With January already behind us and only one finished work in the books, I need to bear down and see a couple of these paintings through. Particularly troubling is the fact that winter usually brings on my most productive studio sessions, yet I have very little to show for it.


If the genius if inspiration ever touches me and I begin to complete some of these unfinished works, it may create an "art tsunami" that may just overwhelm my framer! Until then, I'll just have to get a bigger stick to beat the troll back under the stairs.