This post is inspired by some other blog entries I’ve read recently. Presley at haunting olivia shared some ‘bad’ art (which I think is actually pretty good), and Cassy at knit the hell out confessed about her piles of “UFOs” (unfinished objects). I love seeing people’s work in an unpolished state, whether it’s a work in progress, a quick sketch, or finished pieces that just didn’t quite work out for one reason or another.

Seeing as this is *supposed* to be my art blog and I haven’t had time to draw anything new recently, I figure I might as well share some of my own UFOs.

(Please forgive the not-so-great image quality; I don’t have a scanner. The grey splodges you see on some of the pictures are shadows cast by a dirty window, not parts of the drawings.)

This first one was something I started a couple of years ago to hang up in Raven’s room. My plan was to do a mixed-media drawing/collage. I was going to draw tree branches with cut-paper leaves, and some paper flowers down the bottom.

Girl on a swing

I quite like it, but it came out a bit stiff-looking. The rough preliminary sketch I did had more life & movement to it:

Still, I think it’s nice and want to finish it.

This second sketch is based on a photo of Keith Richards’ hands. I did it in…2003? after years of not drawing. I did it to see whether I could still draw. It wasn’t intended to be used for anything, just a practice sketch.

In a similar vein, this next one is drawn from a photo of Iggy Pop (I love Iggy Pop!). Again, I wasn’t planning on using it for anything, just an exercise. I had to stop because the level of detail was making my eyes freak out. I’ll need new glasses before I attempt something like this again!

Back to drawings for children, recognise this? It’s from Madeline, Raven’s favourite book. Not much to say about this one. Again, it was supposed to go on Raven’s bedroom wall.

“To the tiger in the zoo, Madeline just said, “Pooh-pooh.”

And one last one for (and of) Raven. I did it when she was around 18 months old and at the peak of her cat obsession. It looks better in person – the light was terrible. I need to make the colour a bit more intense, but otherwise it’s more or less finished.

Raven with the dapper Mr. Cat

So those are my unfinished pieces. Now I want to know, what do you have in your unfinished projects pile? (It doesn’t have to be art, it can be anything!) And what’s keeping you from finishing it?