Making Space for Unfinished Things

Sketchbooks are my happy place. They’re messy, full of bad art, half-baked ideas, and trails of nonsense notes.

They’re spaces for ideas that might lead somewhere — or might not. They’re where mistakes happen, where half-formed thoughts sit quietly without pressure to become anything more.

Some of my favourite paintings started with a messy, scribbled sketch I almost forgot about. Most stayed as sketches forever — and that’s fine too.

At the moment, I have two unfinished large paintings hanging on my studio walls. I haven’t touched them since last year, but I love having them around regardless. I’ll finish them eventually — maybe soon, maybe not. Either way, they belong here for now.

Lately, I’ve been trying to make more space for that kind of unfinished, unpressured work — the kind you do simply because it feels interesting, not because you know exactly where it’s going. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you’re only making progress when you finish something, but some of the most important work happens when you’re wandering, not entirely sure where you’ll end up.

The Painted Post has been a great release in that way too. It’s a way to share a single painting or sketch — a fragment of an idea — without needing it to belong to a larger body of work or carry some grand meaning. Sometimes a piece just needs to exist, without explanation or expectation. And that’s enough.

Sometimes the best work comes from letting yourself stay a little lost for a while.