Slipping the Bonds of Gravity

This is another old painting that I started years ago, but never finished. Well, this one is done now. I won't go into what this painting represents to me. I think that it would be better for you to interpret it for yourself.

I'm glad that I finally found the time to finish it. This was another painting that I felt needed to be seen rather than languish on my hard drive.

Wanda Maximoff - The Scarlet Witch

This painting of the Scarlet Witch has probably sat around unfinished for 3 or 4 years. I decided to finally finish it. The hardest part of completing this painting was to try to be faithful to where my skill level was at the time. I felt that adding too much refinement would probably unbalance the image. I think that I was able to true to my original vision for the piece.

I always liked this pose and I think that it should be seen, not hidden on my hard drive. It felt good to finally get it off of the unfinished pile.

Girl in a White Blouse

The base of this painting was another that I started some time ago. So, I'll consider this another work completed for the Finishing Project. I really enjoyed painting the interplay between shadow and light on the face.

Wind Elemental

This is a painting that I set aside and finally found some time to finish today. I'm going to count this as the first painting completed under the "Finishing Project." Its not the one that I thought I'd do first, but its helped me to get started.

Even though the figure is in a static pose, the painting itself is about movement. I tried to represent movement by using the swirling snow, flowing fabric and streaming hair. It is about cold,too, which is why I restricted the palette to blues, whites and cool grays. Finally, it is also about sound. My goal was to make the viewer almost hear the sounds of the wind.

Did I hit the mark? That's for the viewer to decide. I try to raise the bar for myself on one element or another on most of the paintings that I do. The act of defining the goals and the attempt to reach them is my personal measure of success.

Everything else is gravy.

Unfinished Works

Like many artists, I have a boatload of unfinished works. I'll start working on a piece and slowly lose the enthusiasm that I initially had. I've decided to go back and finish some the better pieces. My goal is to finish two paintings per month from the "abandoned" pile. I'm setting my first goals low so that I'll have a better chance of success and to give myself a chance to get into this new routine. I hope that consistent effort in this endeavor will decrease the number of pieces that end up as unfinished, increase the number of finished work and help me to maintain focus.

This is the first painting from the pile that I plan on tackling.