Do You have any Unfinished Paintings?

'Nature's Peace'        8x10       pastel       ©Karen Margulis
available $145

We all have a few. I call them UFOs. Unfinished Objects. Paintings that were started but never finished. Maybe we got frustrated. Maybe we were just bored or something else was more inspiring. Whatever the reason the UFOs ended up in a pile somewhere. After awhile they need to be dealt with. They are taking up valuable space. Do we finish them or recycle the paper?

My UFO pile

Today I decided to get ahead of the pile by working on some of the demos from my recent workshop in Michigan. I took one out and evaluated it. It had good bones but was definitely needing some refinements.

One of my unfinished demos

I liked the colors and I was happy with the depth I had created. I needed to add some more detail and light to the shrubby trees and I needed to add texture and detail to the foreground. I used my go-to technique of spraying some workable fixative. I use Blair low odor fixative. This fixes the pastel in place allowing me to add more layers.

Working on the trees and spraying the foreground to prep for texture

Tip: Start your own UFO pile. Don't throw away unfinished paintings. Store them flat and out of sight. Put them in a box under a bed if you are short on space. Let them sit for awhile. When you are looking for a painting idea....revisit these UFOs and choose one to work on. You will undoubtably have new ideas and insight which you will apply to the painting. It is a great learning experience. 

I know there are paintings that you just need to throw away....but if you are at all on the fence do yourself a favor and put them in your UFO pile. You will learn from them when the time is right!