Me and Leonardo

Leonardo da Vinci

I admit that I DESPISE finishing paintings.  I like the first session where the idea is fresh and exciting and I feel hope about the outcome. If I could make every painting alla prima, I would.  But, alas, I can't...

I spent the day going over the unfinished paintings in my studio.  I need to have a body of work completed in the next few months and it is imperative that I finish those that should be finished.  Generally this means that I am adding detail or changing shapes or fixing edges and sometimes I don't get it right and the whole painting goes down the tubes. AND I FEEL LIKE I'VE GOTTEN NOTHING DONE. 

In addition, the unfinished paintings tend to be the ones that I lost interest in half way through, and there is nothing that makes you feel like you should just give it all up for a waitressing job like bad starts. I can spend hours trying to make a bad start work to no avail.  BUT, I did make some progress today and I have a line of FINISHED and partly wet paintings lining my walls. HOORAY!

Leonardo da Vinci rarely finished his work.  I think oftentimes he had moved on to the next thing in his head and lost interest in what he was working on at the time.  But, that's a guess.  I wish I could say I was half as talented or ingenious, but I can't. HOWEVER, I did finish something today.