One thing I do now want this blog to be is a “typical artist blog” where each post is “this is my latest painting” and “I love how the reds pop out of the green …” Though this blog will often be about my art, I hope it will also be about a larger perspective.
Today I would like to write about how an artist knows a painting is finished. This question has been on my mind because, indeed, I am about to finish a painting. At least, I think so. I am a realist painter, but I don’t strive to emulate photographs. I don’t work trompe l’oiel, where it’s hard to tell the image before you from the actual thing in situ. Nor am I a photo-realist or hyper-realist; the current printing technology allows photographers to fill that role. I make paintings that look like paintings of objects. It’s a bit of a fine line to walk, but that’s the dance that I do.
So how do I know when a painting is finished? At some point it becomes obvious that it is almost finished. All the different components have been completed, underpainted and glazed as needed, and to a consistent degree. The picture stops being a collection of parts and becomes an connected whole. Are the connections right? Are the colors balanced? Are any adjustments in the fall of light needed? Should more details be added to one part or another? This is a fussy stage, where small nuances are adjusted here and there if not everywhere.
After each adjustment, I look at the painting for a good while, looking for anything that could or should be done. Then I ask if the change will really improve the painting or not. After making the change, I have to re-evaluate and ask if it is really better. If the answer is no, then I have to ask if that’s because my painting skills need improvement, or because the painting was as good before the change as after.
Then I put the painting aside for a day or two where I don’t look at it. A final inspection with a fresh eye, and if I still think it’s done it gets signed. Once signed, a painting is inviolate.
