Finish It!

I'm still thinking about unfinished projects. And before you tell me to stop wasting time pondering and go get something done, I will admit that I'm typing this from work. It's my weekend on shift at the lab. Add a snowstorm to a weekend and the hospital gets pretty quiet, so I have extra time to ruminate. Trust me, if I could bring art projects to work for the slow times, I would. But there's that whole biohazard issue; spilling blood on my latest needle felted critter might add a nice touch, but then it would have to be incinerated. Heh.

Anyway, I started thinking specifically about WHY I don't finish certain projects. I know I emphasized previously that it's because I have too many things to do, but there's undoubtedly more to it than that. I have a few ideas.

Sometimes it's because the project is boring. Take my insulated curtains that I mentioned in my last post. I had a lot of fun making my Totoro door quilt, but the window quilts I have planned for the living room are plain white. Pretty boring. Which is probably why Totoro was finished last winter and the living room windows are still bare.

It's also easy for me to get distracted (oooh, shiny!) by new projects before the old ones are finished. Then I feel guilty for having too many projects on the go at one time. I tell myself to finish one before starting the next, but if I've lost interest in the first one (or if the new one is particularly exciting) I just work myself into a dither and get nothing done at all.

Other times I think projects remain unfinished because I am disappointed in the way they are turning out. Art projects always have a certain degree of ambiguity for me, especially sculptures. I always start out with a vision of what I want to create, but often as I move through the process of sculpting it I find the project straying further and further from the original concept.

Well, let's see if I can flip these reasons around. I'm imagining mirror-me giving me a pep-talk:

This is so boring ...

If it's boring, why are you doing it? Instead of worrying about finishing everything you start, you should worry more about starting only things you know you'll finish.

You sound like the Mysterious Sphinx ... but what if it's obligatory AND boring?

Find a way to make it less boring! Artists are creative, right? Live up to it!

I have this great idea for a new project, but if I start it before I'm done with my current project I'll feel like a loser.

Why? Linear thinking is a bad habit. Humans are capable of multi-tasking and you're no exception (except for that pat-your-head-while-rubbing-your-tummy thing ... don't try that one again, it just makes you look like a freak). Spend ten minutes on this project, ten minutes on that project, and before you know it you'll have them both done.

This isn't turning out the way I intended.

Why is that a problem? Happy accidents aren't limited to penicillin and Bob Ross. Just run with it and see where it takes you.

But it's turning out ... just plain bad.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't finish it. Getting better at anything involves practice, grasshoppah. A bad result doesn't invalidate the process of creation. You have to make a lot of bad art before you figure out how to make good art.

I tried squeezing a little more inspiration out of mirror-me, but she muttered something about sparkly donuts and ran off while singing "All You Need is a Montage". Guess I'd better work on those curtains when I get home tonight.