Process, Progress?

The other day I wrote about a piece that went very wrong, darn it.  That happens a lot to artists.  We can't expect every piece we do to be successful - though it frustrates me mightily if it doesn't.  

I still expect to have a perfect piece by the time I'm done and that is just not possible.

This expresses what I mean - 

When a piece is not going well, I either trash it or I let it sit for a while.  Sometimes it sits for months, even a couple of years.  

Like this one - 

There are already pieces torn off it that I was disgusted with.  I had in mind to create an abstract collage as I'd done fairly successfully a couple of times, but when I thought I was finished with it, I disliked it.  And I attempted to destroy it, but decided to wait.

So it sat.  For a year, I think.

Then when I decided to go through canvases that were sitting around waiting for something to be done to them, I decided to resurrect this piece.  I didn't want it to be an abstract at this point.  I wanted to make the piece with a person, and I wasn't too sure I wanted to add a funny caption.

So I started by covering that torn off corner 

Just random elements, things I hadn't used before, like the brown and silver paper that my friend Michele Alt had given me.

This did not make me happy.  You can see the wrinkles, even after I'd gone over it with a brayer.  Some of the wrinkles are because of the texture underneath but even so I wasn't pleased.

While I was thinking about the wrinkles, I added other elements.  I finally realized that the way to solve the problem was to cover that wrinkled piece with the image of the person I wanted to use.

I chose a copy of a photograph I had picked up somewhere, of a dignified man staring into space.  I thought he might be a good addition to the piece

I'm still not sure about the piece, which I called "He Tries."  I did decide to put it in the volunteer section of the Mill Gallery, which is run by the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, but even so...  My cousin Jan saw it last week and says it's not at all bad, which I guess is something.  But as always, I may be my worst critic.  And as the maker maybe I should be.

In any case, this is definitely a case where what I came up with is not at all perfect.  But that's OK too.

later,
lin