making friends with the trash can

Well, the art is taking another turn. After the last year full of a spontaneous and loose style, I've happened back on to the grid. You'd think that I would be done with this approach after spending 4 years at UCLA graphic design school having it pounded into my brain but I'm finding it oddly refreshing. It's kind of like filling in the blanks for me now. I still have to mind the colors and think about that nasty focal point but I feel like I've found an old friend. I'll keep to the painting but it was never easy for me to let go and be messy. The grid appeals to my sense of order and I'm also finding that it is a great way to use up a lot of those paper bits that I have lying around.

Speaking of stuff lying around...I'm feeling overwhelmed with all of the half-finished projects in my life. In the past 5 years I've accumulated tons of supplies and partially created things that I've started in classes and never finished. This is rare for me because I like to finish stuff right away but there are still a few odd assemblage pieces, the repousee book with one cover done, the canvasses with only the backgrounds painted sitting there staring at me in their mocking little way. I used to be so anal about these things. I couldn't continue on to another project until the last one was done and dusted but these days I've become yes, a slacker. Is this progress? A way of letting go? Can I move to the next step and actually remove these things from my sight? I'd say that trying to tie up these loose ends now would be taking a step backward. I know in my heart that I've learned all I can learn from them so trying to complete them would only be making my "grandma voice" happy. I'm thinking that now is the time to make a big donation to SCRAP.