The Dare

This little girl kept me busy off and on all week long. The daring look in her eyes, the tangles in her hair, the way the shadow of a window pane shaped her face and chest kept pulling me back to take another look, make another pass.  Ease up on that mark, bear down in this area, get rid of that.    I'm still not sure I got down what fascinated, but I'm as close as I am going to get.  For now, I say I'll take a breath,  but I know  I won't be coming back.  

" Eureka that's it"! seldom happens with me and my art.  "The end",  "Finished", are absolutes I never reach.  Mostly, I just stop and walk away. That unfinished, unresolved state used to annoy the hell out of me.  Now, I know better:  I love starts!  I jump out of bed in the darkness of early morning to watch the sun celebrate the rise of a new day. The sunrise brings a fresh start. Sunsets, as beautiful as they are, do not.  They call time-out.  After so many marks made, paintings and drawings started, worked then set aside, I suspect  my masterpiece just might be that pristine white, blank canvas--or the next clean blank sheet of paper in the Sketchpad waiting till morning?  Unmarred and perfect, they dare me to keep going, keep trying, keep jumping up eager to catch the first rays of infinite promise.