A question that arises in one’s mind while painting is that when is a painting finished? The finishing stage of a painting is as crucial as the beginning or the middle stage. In fact, the finishing stage can take your painting from ordinary to wow level.
It’s common to get confused while painting. You might end up finishing too early or too late than the correct point.
Let’s check out some tips to figure out when is a painting finished?
1. First and foremost, your intuition plays a key role to decide whether a painting is finished or not. If your gut is telling you that you should put a brake on painting the canvas, you might as well be right. You simply know when the painting just feels right.
Tip: If you are not able to tap into your intuition; take a walk or look at the painting next day with fresh eyes. Most probably, you will know the answer.
2. Another tip is kind of linked with the first tip. When you feel that you have put in your best efforts and there is nothing you can do to make it better, you painting is probably finished.
Tip: Perhaps there is something more that you can do with the painting which you might realize after sometime. It’s a tricky thing to decide what’s best for the painting, experiment with your painting while preventing it from losing track.
3. Don’t look at your painting in terms of portions. Although you need to enhance/work on every little portion of the painting to finish the painting; stepping back could help. In fact, understanding the concept of focal points and subduing some portions can come in handy.
Tip: Always look at painting from a distance as a unified whole and decide whether all elements of painting work together or not. This is crucial in deciding when is a painting finished.
4. It’s possible that you are just too biased for your painting or are unable to decide whether painting is ready or not. When is a painting finished? In such a case, it’s best to ask someone else whose opinion you can trust.
Tip: Make sure you select someone who can give an honest opinion. Remember, finally it’s your call whether you want to accept that opinion or take another route.
5. Don’t overlook portions that need working. With this I mean you can’t compromise on aspects such as neatness of the painting. Maybe you worked really hard on some portion of the painting but it still doesn’t look neat/finished. In such a case, don’t just put your brushes down imagining your viewers won’t notice it. You don’t want to overdo the painting but you also don’t want to call your painting finished way too early.
Tip: Imagine yourself as a viewer or else imagine a painting critique/expert looking at your painting. Would you still leave that portion which needs more work unfinished?
6. In some cases, leaving a painting aside for sometime helps. Sometimes, you just don’t know whether your painting is finished or not. Maybe, you can leave your painting aside for weeks before sharing it with your viewers. You might discover new ways of taking your painting to another level or maybe you still can’t think of any other step to continue with the painting. Either way, your painting will reach its final stage.
Tip: It’s a good idea to observe nature, observe creativity in everyday life and be open to new ideas while you are on a break from painting. Perhaps, you can incorporate some new idea to the painting kept aside.
Finishing words on the finishing stage:
The purpose of above list is to be a simple guide for you to decide whether your painting is finished or not. However, remember that there could be other ways too.
Do you have some other tip to add to the list? Can you resonate with any of the ways I mentioned above? I am curious to know how you found out about any of your painting getting finished? Please share in the comments section.
You started your painting with lots of hopes, enthusiasm, a big dose of creativity and a magic wand of inspiration. Make sure you do justice to it and finish it with elan!
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