Sometimes the hardest thing for an artist is to tell when a painting is "finished".
I dashed off this watercolor sketch the other day. I painted it quickly on a quarter sheet of watercolor paper, without doing any pencil drawing beforehand. It looks fresh, and it conveys the scene and the feeling I was going for. But it looks somehow incomplete.
Yet I'm hard pressed to figure out what to do to finish it. I'm concerned that if I fiddle with it a lot more, I will ruin the freshness and spontaneity of this little sketch. There have been way too many times where I've kind of liked a piece but couldn't resist making one more change or adding one more thing, and then regretted it.
Right now I'm inclined to leave this painting alone. Maybe I'll do a second version of this idea, with more pre-planning, careful drawing, and more detail.
How about you? How do you know when something is finished? Have you ever been sorry you added "one more thing" to a completed painting?
I just wish i could draw stick figures.This looks excellent to me, you are so talented.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anne!
ReplyDeleteIrene I really like this painting it's spontaneous. Other than many adding a little darker cast shadow I wouldn't change a thing it's perfect just as it is. I love it! Way to go!
ReplyDelete