Work in Progress

'cheddars' a Work in Progress

I often post images here and label them as Work in Progress, what I am trying to suggest is that I will at some point go back to these images and finish them.......
I'm lying.
What I really, honestly mean by Work in Progress is Work That Frankly Isn't Going the Way I Want it to So I Give Up Now. Not quite such a snappy title is it? I also don't like to feel like I've given up on a piece of work, or that it has beaten me. The WIP title helps to give me the (false) sense that I haven't given up, that I will return....dammit!
Going back to a piece of work is problematic for me though, for a number of reasons.
1. Oil Bars dry. Often, when I go back to a drawing, the paint won't move in the same way. It's annoying.
2. Time. I tend to need a chunk of time to sort out the problems and I can't always find it.
3. If it didn't work in the first place, chances are that there was something wrong anyway. Whether it it was wrong reference, clunky composition or just plain old 'not what I wanted'.
Here's an example of a WIP that I went back to....and shouldn't have done!

Work in Progress!

Dammit!

The way to look at it I suppose, is to view all of my work as Work in Progress, because it is. Each image teaches me something, even if it's just that one technique suits me more than another. And don't we all know that we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our success's?