found a half-finished painting from three years ago and actually finished it tonight
I was digging through the closet looking for my good brushes, the ones I hide from the kids, and I pulled out this canvas I'd completely forgotten about. A little barn scene I started in a workshop back in 2021 and then gave up on because I couldn't get the shadows right on the roof.
I sat there holding it for a minute, and I could see exactly what I was doing wrong back then. So I mixed up some Payne's grey and burnt umber and fixed it in about ten minutes. Ten minutes! Three years of sitting in a dark closet and it just needed a little patience and a better eye.
Felt weirdly nice. Like giving past-me a hand. Anyone else ever rescue an old abandoned piece?
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this is such a good feeling. i had a pot i threw three years ago that i bisque-fired and then just... abandoned in a corner. last month i looked at it and suddenly knew exactly what glaze it needed. like the piece was waiting for me to catch up to it.
that gap between "i can't fix this" and "oh, it's obvious" is so weird. you don't even notice yourself getting better until something from the past proves it. glad you finished it, bet the barn looks right now
there's something about leaving things alone that lets them breathe. the pot knew what it needed, you just weren't ready to see it yet. i have negatives i printed badly years ago stuffed in a drawer, one day i'll pull them out and know what i missed the first time. or maybe i won't. maybe they're still waiting.
Thanks! I love that you get it. And yeah, don't toss those negatives, I bet you'll open that drawer one day and see something you didn't before. Or hey, maybe they're waiting for a version of you that hasn't shown up yet 🙂
Yes, that's exactly it, like we had to grow into them! I love that you had the same thing with a pot. There's something humbling about it too, realizing how much you couldn't see back then that seems obvious now. But in a good way.
And yes, the barn looks right now 😅 I left it on the easel so I can walk past it and feel smug for a few days before I figure out where to put it.