Work in Progress

“Unfinished quality. Find it interesting. The contrast. Work in progress.”

I wrote these words down quickly at an opening reception for a gallery exhibit the other night. It was just little details in two of the pieces that looked almost unfinished to me. The oil pastels were blended completely throughout, except for certain spots. These jumped out at me. I wondered if it was intentional. I thought of it as a work in progress, presented in such a public viewing. And how remarkable that seemed, like a little rebellion from what is expected. 

I knew I wanted to play around with this idea, this little piece of inspiration. I like the idea of a work in progress. All the ways we might wait for something to be ‘just right’ or polished enough to share with others. For me, I like rough drafts. I like seeing the progress. I like things that reflect the perspective that we don’t have to be perfect, or pretend to be. That our still developing pieces are just as worthy of a witness. 

When I finished this one, I immediately wanted to try another one. Maybe these ideas called for more attention, more time spent here. Maybe I didn’t think this one was quite what I hoped and I wanted to try to polish this particular technique some more.

I started picking rather random images and combining them, intending to try this ‘partially finished’ look in a composite image. As I went along though, I let go of that end goal and followed wherever the inspiration led. 

I really like this one. And I wanted to share the story behind it, because it was not at all what I had in mind when I started. But I’m going to sit with this one for a while and ask myself what I see in this image that might have any correlation to my original inspiration, or maybe something I’m holding on to in my life that wanted to be revealed or explored at some level. 

“This kind of mental play uses both unconscious and conscious thinking: scanning various stimuli and information, perceiving patterns and clear or hidden similarities between things and ideas, and playing with their interconnections, relationships, and links.” – Victoria Stevens