Works in Progress

I’m often guilty of starting projects and never finishing them. Sometimes it’s a matter of lack of inspiration or not knowing where to go next with a project, but sometimes it’s just a matter of motivation and finding the time to finish them.

So, partly to encourage myself to finish off more things and partly to show you what I’m currently working on, I thought I’d make this post of my works in progress.

Embossed Art (which you can read about here)

In that post I said how I wasn’t sure what to do with them and I’m still not! I think a few of the blue/green colour pictures I make are okay as they are, but this orange one in particular still needs more work. It definitely is lacking a focal point, but I’m too scared to add to it in case I ‘get it wrong’. Originally my thought was to do some more heat embossing on it, but I’m now thinking that I could just add more paint. But then, maybe I should add some drawn elements into the piece? There are too many choices and I’m not particularly sure about any of them, so unfinished it remains.

Purple/Blue canvas board (which I posted on Instagram here)

This came about while I was doing some other painting work and was left with excess paint that I wanted to use up somehow. Shortly after I used a mask to add a light layer of gesso to one half of the image. Now I’m stuck on what to do and where to take this piece. I think the abrupt line across the image looks weird and I don’t really like any of it. At the moment my instinct is to paint over it all and start again, but I’m waiting to see if something else comes to me before I give up on it completely.

Purple/Blue canvas

Again, this came about one day when I had excess paint left over. Every so often I add more paint to it, thinking that if I do I’ll suddenly decide what I want to do with it and get focus, but I think I’m just making more of a mess than anything else.

Burgundy canvas board, similar to ‘Royal Decay’ (which you can read about here)

This was the beginnings of what became ‘Royal Decay’, but I haven’t finished this one because it is so similar to the piece I made before. I’m now stuck, because I don’t know if I should try and take it in a different direction, or finish it in the same way.

Burgundy cardboard, similar to ‘Royal Decay’ (which you can read about here)

This piece was made using the same techniques as the previous one, but this time of cardboard rather than canvas board. I was using this as a place to test out ideas and colours while I was making ‘Royal Decay’. Now I’m left with a similar problem as my other piece, do I continue with it as it is, or try and change direction? Or should I throw it away and be done with it? I do like the added texture of working on cardboard, so either way, at least it is a reminded to try it out again.

Orange Folded Book

I made a folded concertina book but didn’t know what to do with it. I had some leftover paint on the cardboard I was using to mix paint on and used this to print onto the book, creating the lines. But now, I don’t know what to do. I need to add some more to it, but I’m not sure what. I’m thinking I could do a was over it to add more colour, but then should I add more lines or some words? I have no focus for this piece, but it has a lot of potential.

Painted fabric (which I posted on Instagram here)

I did these pieces while working through Sherrill Kahn’s book, Mixed-media Master Class. I really liked the colours and patterns and I have been meaning to stitch into them with black thread to add some simple lines to them for a while, but have never gotten around to it.

 ‘The’ Project final piece (which you can read about here)

This piece is supposed to be the conclusion of my idea generation project that I did a few months ago. My plan is to stitch the pieces of fabric together, but I started doing it in black, which I don’t like, so now I need to undo that before I started stitching in a more neutral colour. I’ll then add longer lines across the image in black thread to mimic the lines in my book.

Circles

I started this project a while ago as a mark making exercise where I drew circles in a sketchbook in a variety of different mediums. I wanted to expand on the idea, but got stuck. I did some print making, which I liked, but then I wanted to work on fabric using free machine stitching and haven’t gone any further. It’s partly because I’m not naturally inclined to work in textiles or sewing (as this list has shown, I think), but also because I’m not sure what I’m intending to make with it. I feel really uninspired with it at the moment, which is a shame because it started off so positively.

Hopefully at some point in the (near) future, I will be able to update you all on these projects and show you finished pieces, but for the time being this is as far as I’ve got with them. It’s been fun to look through them and think some more about them, even if I haven’t come to any decisions. Either way, this is a good way to keep track of stuff I intend to finish one day and record my thoughts on what I’d like to do with them.