Last Friday during my Big Cleaning Frenzy, I came across an old project drooping in a corner feeling sorry for itself. I’ll tell you more about this precious discovery a little bit later…
First I want to talk about unfinished projects. They take up a lot of space, but they can be a good thing. I have countless projects like this, mostly from college and old workplaces, half finished but brimming with promise.
Many of these projects were abandoned for practical reasons (commissions that fell through, a change of job), others were put aside because they were just not going anywhere, and I needed to give myself some time before returning to them. Looking at them now after a sizeable break, I am struck with millions of ideas of how to develop them (it’s so exciting!).
…And then there are the ‘finished’ projects that have fulfilled their initial purpose and are essentially ‘done’ but, this is the great thing about revisiting old work, are they really ever done? Looking at them afresh, they turn into launching pads for future projects.
The discovery
A couple of years ago, a friend and ex-colleague asked me to collaborate with her on a text book she was writing about composition. Unfortunately, the project never came to fruition for me. My friend moved abroad, and self published the book without any illustrations.
I was left with mounds of unused artwork, mostly rough sketches, from the project, and it seems a shame to leave the work languishing in a corner.
Now that they have seen the light of day, they are whispering and pleading to me “please, please, work on us, develop us into something amazing, give us the kiss of life!”
Ok old project, once the Art fairs are out of the way, your time will come.
You can take a look at the dog-eared pieces of inspiration below:
They are very Colourful! Anjali would approve!
🙂 If it were up to Anjali, I’d be painting rainbow unicorns every day!