by Angela Blaha | Apr 15, 2025 | Art, Creativity Portal
What happens to art that never gets completed?
An article as seen on Creativity Portal.com
Most people think of unfinished paintings as abandoned. Forgotten. Works that never became what they were meant to be. Something that gets started but never finished.
But what if that’s not true?
What if unfinished paintings are still alive in some way — still holding energy, still waiting, still whispering?
I’ve often wondered what happens to the pieces that never reach completion. The ones left in a corner of the studio, half-formed and unresolved. Some get painted over, their beginnings buried beneath new layers. Some sit in storage, waiting for a moment that may never come. Others are simply left behind.
But do they ever truly let go of us?
The Energy of the Incomplete
Every painting begins with an impulse — an idea, a feeling, a pull toward something unseen. But not every painting finds its way to full expression.
Some get stuck. Some resist. Some refuse to be finished, as if they are waiting for something — more time, a deeper understanding, the right moment to emerge.
I’ve had paintings that haunted me for years, unfinished but present. Whenever I walked past them, I felt their pull. They weren’t dead. They weren’t forgotten. They were simply waiting.
And sometimes, when I finally returned to them, they revealed something I couldn’t see before.
When the Painting Decides Its Own Fate
There are pieces I’ve tried to force into being, only to find they wouldn’t cooperate. The colors wouldn’t blend. The composition felt wrong. The energy wasn’t there.
I used to think that meant I had failed as an artist. That I had lost my creative flow or didn’t know how to complete what I started.
But now, I wonder — what if some paintings choose not to be finished? What if they hold a purpose beyond our immediate understanding?
What if they exist as they are meant to — unfinished, unresolved, yet still carrying something powerful?
Art That Lives in the In-Between
Maybe unfinished paintings belong to a different space — a liminal space, a place between what is seen and what is still forming.
Maybe they are not failures, but thresholds.
Maybe they are not abandoned, but pausing.
Maybe they were a path that was all wrong, just not the path I wanted to enter.
Some paintings return to us at the right time. Others never do. But perhaps that doesn’t mean they are lost.
Perhaps some works of art exist to teach us about the beauty of the incomplete. The mystery of the unfinished. The path not taken. The power of what is still becoming.
And maybe, just maybe, some paintings are never meant to be finished at all. 🖌
by Angela Blaha | Mar 18, 2025 | Art, Creativity Portal
An article as seen on Creativity Portal.com
There is a difference between looking and truly seeing.
Most people move through life skimming the surface — absorbing only what is obvious, registering what they expect to see. But an artist’s vision doesn’t work that way. We don’t just look at a tree, a face, or a moment in time; we see into it, through it, beyond it.
We see the way light shifts before a storm, how shadows hold color, how silence has a texture. We notice the small hesitations in a person’s expression, the story held in the curve of a hand, the unseen energy pulsing beneath a landscape.
This ability to see beyond the surface is what makes art not just an image, but an experience.
The Unseen Layers of the World
Seeing deeply isn’t just about what’s visible — it’s about perceiving the layers most people overlook. It’s about recognizing the weight of history in a weathered door frame, the whisper of a story in an abandoned street, the presence of something beyond words at a glance.
Some paintings carry this energy effortlessly. They hold something that can’t be explained but can be felt. These are the works that stop people in their tracks — not because of their technical precision, but because something lives within them.
But how do we, as artists, develop this kind of seeing?
Training the Eye, Opening the Soul
True seeing isn’t just an act of the eyes — it’s an act of presence. It’s about being willing to slow down, to listen, to receive.
Here are a few ways to cultivate this deeper vision:
- Observe without expectation.
Instead of naming what you see, let yourself experience it without labeling. What does this moment feel like? What is beneath the obvious?
- Follow the unnoticed.
Watch how reflections shift in a puddle, how wind shapes a field of grass, how time alters the texture of an object.
- Feel beyond what is seen.
When looking at a person, notice what’s unspoken. When walking into a space, sense what lingers there. When painting, ask yourself — what is waiting to emerge?
- Create from intuition, not just sight.
Sometimes, the most powerful work doesn’t come from what we see but from what we know without knowing why. Trust that inner pull.
Art as a Gateway
At its core, art is an invitation — to see, to feel, to remember. It is a way of revealing what has always been there, just beneath the surface, waiting for someone to notice.
The greatest artists are not just skilled in technique; they are skilled in perception. They see the unseen, and in doing so, they help others see it too.
So the next time you pick up a brush, a pen, or a camera — pause. Look again. And ask yourself:
What is here that no one else has noticed?
That is where the real art begins. 🖌
