Friday - Let it Go

Wish You Were Here
photo encaustic on birch 5x5

Do you have a painting "bone yard", a place where the misfit works go?  You know what I mean.. the ones that no matter how hard you work on them and no matter how much time you spend, you just can't make them flesh out to the vision you had in your mind's eye.  Is it because the composition is off?  Perhaps its the drawing itself or the colors or really you can't put your finger on it - but it just isn't right and it doesn't do it for you.  There is something about the piece that does not lift you up and make you smile. 
Well, I have those works and I'll share what I have found to do.  Let it go.  Let it go to the bone yard, the land of misfit works or be recycled, reused, cut up, or painted over.  I used to spend lots of time trying to make it right.  No matter what I did, I could never really pull it out.  I would enter my studio and give a big *sigh* and think... well, I'll take another stab at it and see if I can get it right.  Yet, there is something that lingers within that just knows this one is not quite right.  Nope, I'm not going to do it anymore..  Let it go.  Even the greats, like John Singer Sargent for example, rubbed out and started fresh.   I've decided that's the way to go - let it go.  Move on, move forward.  Turn it around so you don't look at it every time you enter the studio - there should be no wayward sigh.  As artists, I believe we should do art that lifts us up not work on something that sucks the creative spirit from us.  It's OK to let it go.  It's OK to leave it behind.  These works are the learning tools, the stepping stones that move us on, move us forward.  These are the works that get us from A to B.  Take from these works, the one thing you were meant to learn.  What did you like about it?  Was it the color, the process of making it, the line, the texture... if you really look, there is one or perhaps more than one nugget of something great that happened.  As a whole, well... it didn't come together - but that one little part of it was pure brilliance.  Take that and build upon it for the next one - but, as a whole.. let it go.
I have two right now that really I can't get them right and they are big and I've put a lot of time in.  But, the process of making them.. the line, the texture in the background, a couple things I did - I love.. love, love, love.  Now, I just have to figure out how to take those little bits that make me smile and excite me and move forward with them.   
It's Paint Party Friday today - YAY!  I so love going blog hopping and seeing what everyone is doing.   And, I'm linking up with Creative Every Day