How do you know a painting is finished?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hillel Kagan on October 14, 2009 at 0:42

It's a good question and one I've always grappled with. Sometimes, though very rarely, a painting just seems to come to a finish. That's not usually the case, mostly the process never ends and I can't seem to come to a finish so I continue on, either to ruin it completely or in a state of utter desperation simply abandon the effort and turn it toward the wall. When I look at the thing a couple of months later, usually I find that I had finished it after all.

I've come to think that it's a question of mood. Once in awhile you find yourself in a very objectively assured mood and that's when you should try to finish something. My practice of late has been to keep a number of things on the go and wait for that mood to strike.

Matisse had the problem beat, he said something to the effect of not starting a painting unless you have it within you (the energy) to finish it in one (sometimes very long) session. When working on a long sustained effort, you seldom come back to the work with the same eyes you had the day before therefore the very common problem of finishing.

Permalink Reply by Valery Koroshilov on October 14, 2009 at 23:15

Dear Hillel, I am glad you mentioned a question of mood. I think, I can't agree with you more.
Well, turning the picture toward the wall, - certainly rings the bell. But I wonder, wether you've ever reworked a canvas which had been left facing the wall for a very very long time - months, years?

Permalink Reply by Hillel Kagan on October 15, 2009 at 0:02

Yes, not years but months and it's very hard to find a point of re-entry, "reworking" is the key word. Obviously the abandoned painting wasn't working out, yet there might be something there worth saving. Out of cowardice the canvas is turned toward the wall. A couple of months later, nothing's changed and ultimately those precious parts have to be sacrificed. Either the whole thing has to be destroyed or completely reworked, it becomes in effect a different work with some echo of the earlier.

Permalink Reply by Dean melbourne on October 28, 2009 at 13:30

I have no idea when a painting is finished until I have just painted past the point and usualy killed it. Will i ever learn. My temptation to keep messing is ferocious! . I have a feeling that paintings sometimes just need to stand for a couple of years before they are ready. Or maybe then people seem to be ready to see it.

Permalink Reply by Robert Moran on November 1, 2009 at 23:07

Hey fellow toilers in the painty saltmines --

As to reworking a canvass that's been turned to the wall after months or years...I'm currently back working on a very large painting (75 inches wide), that I have been working on for the past two years. I keep painting myself to the point where I think 'This is rubbish', put it aside and then come back to it a matter of weeks or months later when I usually think, 'Actually, that's pretty good!'.

I think I may be in the final stretch with this thing now...I think...I hope...but I have said that before.

Some paintings are a sprint. Some a marathon. And some, like this one, are akin to the Hundred Years war!

Permalink Reply by Valery Koroshilov on November 4, 2009 at 9:50

I love this line so much: "some paintings are a sprint, some a marathon". It's so true, isn't it? I wish I could train all my paintings for a sprint...

Permalink Reply by Raph on January 3, 2010 at 20:17

I think you have to align the "alleged" finished product with the thoughts and emotions that you are trying to evoke through the painting.. once you are satisfied that it answers questions, makes the points arouses the some level of intended or non intended thoughts then you have finished.

but one can also argue that a painting is never finished (i find myself always doing last minute fiddles etc) and in those cases i guess i am tampering with the level of its completeness (completeness not necessarily meaning the more you do the more complete it is) you could get also risk diminishing returns when you fiddle too much and lose the purity and spirit of the piece.

I hope that made some sense and didnt blabber to much.

Permalink Reply by Valery Koroshilov on January 12, 2010 at 22:03

It all makes perfect sense, Raph. I think you might be right, - a painting is never finished. It seems, we come pretty close here to the categories of the infinity, or perhaps, the ideal. Fascinating stuff. And yet one can try to handle it with one's own fingers!
I am currently in the "finishing" stage of the painting process, and thinking about all these issues adds actually a lot of excitement.

Permalink Reply by Trinity on February 16, 2010 at 16:33

I'm more inclined to agree with Uglow than Pollock. A painting is never really finished, the artist always sees something more they could have done or tweaked and I think it's ok to go back to a painting within a certain time frame. By this I mean we are all a certain person at periods in our life and once we've moved on to the next period or phase we are no longer the same artist that made the work originally, to add to a painting from a different phase is akin to another artist working on your piece.

Permalink Reply by Valery Koroshilov on February 20, 2010 at 13:44

Yes, it's a very good point about the artist changing along with their paintings changing. As Heraclites said, one can not enter into the same river twice, - well, probably one can not enter into the same painting twice, either.

Permalink Reply by Anton Dolders on February 26, 2010 at 18:58

It says all it needs to say

Permalink Reply by Des Howell on April 22, 2010 at 11:25

I am currently struggling to start any serious new works let alone finish any to my own satisfaction. One thing has worked for me in the past, however: Wait till the paint dries before adding "improvements". That way you can wipe them off before you ruin things.
Des

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