So it has been sitting in a corner of my studio for months. Finished, but not finished. Finished, but unsatisfying. A sense of something wrong with it. Not a small painting either. Three feet by eight feet.

A painting that size should make IMPACT. It should shout at you. And this one just sort of hid in the corner. The cross, which should have been the central point (Never mind it is not in the center of the painting. I don’t do symmetry very often.), just laid there, almost lost. It drove me a little crazy every time I walked into the studio to work. Unfinished business.

This morning driving in from my second choice diner, I got an idea. And started to work on it as soon as I got to the studio. Cleared off a work table. Laid the big old painting on it and started. Some new color. Some gold leaf. Some sealant to give the colors depth.

It’s an improvement, but I am not there yet. As so often happens in life, you fix one thing and suddenly you see something else that needs fixing. This may take a while. But that’s not the point.

The point is, you don’t let yourself stay satisfied when you know you aren’t. Sit on it if you will. Think on it. Let it work on you. And then at some point, take the plunge and see what happens. You may or may not fix it completely, but you might, even if it takes more work than you expected. And even if you don’t the effort counts. The not giving up counts. The work counts, and you will feel better for it.

Be well. Travel wisely,

Tom