Art in Limbo

Most artists that I know have unfinished projects lying around for one reason or another. Sometimes something happens and we take a wrong turn in our work resulting in us having to put our project off to the side until we decide on a new course of action. Other times we may have lost our creative edge with that particular project and set it aside until the fire of inspiration burns again...which, it seems, rarely ever ignites a second time.

The worst thing we can do is put these projects out of sight. Never, ever do that, because most often, these poor unfortunate things end up hanging in limbo for a year or more...and some may never see daylight again. Keep them all where you can see them daily. Just seeing them may give you the spark you need to finish them.

Yes, I have unfinished projects of all kinds hanging in limbo until I decide how I would like to finish them. I admit it, I'm guilty!

[Above: close-up of purse design]

I have an idea though that may help me to finish the projects that I have started and since abandoned in various stages:

Starting in June (and at the begining of each new month) I am going to dig out of the depths of darkness, one unfinished project and try to complete it by the month's end. If you would like to give this a try along with me, please leave a comment here and we can push each other on to the finish. :)

June's task is going to involve this unfinished project. The plan for this gourd was to turn it into a purse. It is a pretty good sized corsican gourd. As you can see from the pictures the design is nearly finished. In fact, I'm not sure why I stopped working on it.

I had a problem with this gourd in the begining and was not happy with the first finish(dark brown) and I had to scrape all of it off using an X-acto knife....see first photo below:

After all that scraping I applied a new finish and it was one that I was really happy with, but for some reason (maybe all of those hours spent scraping) I set it aside and never returned.

So, this is where I will start:

close-up of the main design which carries from the front to the back.

This is a close-up of the top and front "lip".

The back...


..and the front.

What I have left to do on this purse is: cut it open, clean it out, sand it, add hardware, add strap, and line the inside. varnish the outside.

There you have it, this is my project goal for June.

So close and yet so far.