Sometimes it seems you try and try and try and end up with a load of 'almost works'. A scrap heap of experiments without the final payoff of "this is the end result that succeeded".

Maybe it's that the more that I learn and the better my work gets, the higher my expectations become. Maybe a newer and better idea hijacks my attention from completion of the last.

An artist's skill evolves - I don't expect immediate gratification or that my projects can reflect the same level of sofistication that they will have in five or ten years. I think I may need a new mantra, though. FINISH IT!

The subject of the posting, however, is that once in a while magic happens. The colors go together...depth and character arise from our humble mud. The water features quit leaking, the bubbling obelisk bubbles, the tilt in the 36" planters balance out. New applications and ideas spring from the last for better and Better and BETTER!

I definately have a completion problem. I'm in a show in ten days, have a winter's worth of work 'almost ready' and nothing ready to sell. I am forcing myself not to start the next set of brilliant ideas. (OK, I already cut the lathe - but I swear I won't cement it yet.)