Evaluating Your Own Work

I came across this sketch this morning and remember deciding not to post it, as I thought it too busy and the musicians not clear enough.  Funny, 4 months later the colours and framing of the chancel arch appealed and I interpreted it's narrative as the whole scene, rather than a failed portrait of the performers.

I find evaluating my own work is  tough.  Often I am overly critical of  my sketches, or am too focused with it not looking like some other artist's work that I am trying to emulate. Or sometimes, I'm just a little tired and not up to being objective.    The one thing I have learned is that time acts as a bit of a distancing mechanism, so I rarely throw things out.  In this case the sketch was in a bound book, which is part of the charm of these books as pieces of work and value as record of progress.