Each piece I work on is like a wicked problem. I make the task as difficult as possible for myself. The work has to repel at a certain level as much as it attracts.
Whilst there is a modus operandi of iteration, destruction and re-creation common to all my pieces, each presents a unique set of challenges groping in the dark for a resolution. I usually know when I've found 'it'.
Obviously, I'm the crucial arbiter of what works and what doesn't; the man from Del Monte who decides what goes public. If a piece isn't working, I'll stick at it until I believe it does. It's not often that I give up entirely on a piece. I don't worry too much about the sunk cost involved and I've often returned much later to projects I initially thought were lost.
Here are three recent pieces; the first is on the threshold of being finished after several different iterations spanning about 9 months.
And these two, that I thought were close to completion but am now having second thoughts about.
The one at the top of the post has a certain authority aesthetically. Even in its unfinished state. The other two don't quite. Yet.
Post script: the first became this. The last two were later combined to produce this:
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