My Ladies in Waiting

This morning my Facebook status update was about these "ladies in waiting" waiting to be finished. These five 10x20's were started months ago and I work on them every now and then. They have been sitting on my studio's heating element all summer, faceless-yet staring at me, and seeming to say,  "We'll sit right here till you make us come to life."

Believe me, seeing their faceless faces has been nagging at me. But there is a reason I put off painting their faces. It makes me uncomfortable, because it scares me a little. I don't feel particularly good at it, but I keep trying it anyways. Because I want to keep challenging myself. It's good to step outside your comfort zone now and then. And even though I feel so unsure of myself, I keep painting them.  I think I might be done with this series, but then I think this is just the starting point. I think they will evolve into something very different...eventually. (I finished five of these 10x20 woman paintings last year--check the label "four seasons".)

This morning I headed to the studio and decided to put my anxiety aside and work on finishing these "ladies in waiting". It's time. I didn't finish any of them, but made enough progress to make me want to keep going.

Even if I'm not "in love" with how each of them turns out, I think it's time to finish them and move ahead. One of the hard things about painting their faces is that sometimes when I'm done I feel completely different about the painting...and not always in a good way. And then sometimes it just takes a while for the finished result to "grow on me".

It's not always comfortable stepping outside of your comfort zone, but it is a good thing.