With me, it’s not the technical aspects of how to paint, nor to fix a flawed painting, but when to stop and say it is over…it’s finished. Let’s face it, you can’t keep adding another drop of paint or another brush stroke to a work that is screaming, “stop already.”
I think it is more psychological than not when an artists keeps having the nagging feeling to keep working on a piece of art long after it is complete. And I don’t think I’m the only artist that suffers from this dilemma, the need to make a decision of two choices: stop or keep painting.
When is the beginning, and when is the end? Most (what I call) doodle sketches are either tossed in the trash, or filed away for future reference. However, the one on the right began a longer than necessary journey to a finished project. Now that it is finished, I gave it a name: “Pappy’s Break”. It has had several posts on this blog sight since I began what I continually called a “work in progress,” and thought it would remain as such, forever.
The painting went through several near metamorphic stages, yet just as I decided it was ruined, it kept coming back alive. Halfway in to its completion, the three-quarter inch solid board I used to stretch the work broke from the pressure. The paper buckled and inspired another blog post bemoaning the situation. Miraculously, I saved the paper from being permanently buckled, reattached it to a new board. However, disillusioned, I put it aside for a few months, letting it rest on the easel, doubting I’d ever go back and finish the pestering watercolor.
My wife kept mentioning that I ought to finish the work. For some reason she seemed to like the dashes and splashes of color in the work. I kept saying, “someday.”
One day she said, “Why don’t you put me in the painting as one of the characters?”
The idea sort of inspired me to get back to work on the painting, and I dabbled around with the composition, trying to find where I could fit her in. Finally, I realized their was a position on the left hand side of the painting (the platinum blonde approaching the fruit stand), and sure enough it was the catalyst that helped finish the work. Thank goodness! Now I can say it is finally complete. Below is the finished Painting. I hope you enjoy it.
