Are We There Yet? Knowing When a Painting is Finished
Bounded by Light and Fancy, detail
Something almost magical
Knowing when a painting is finished is a question that I’ve been thinking about for some time, especially since my current interest is in expressing myself through making abstract imagery.
After the first few passes on a painting, it’s simple enough to know that it isn’t finished because, well it's only the beginning.
Then as more marks and materials accumulate on the surface of the painting, it's a much more difficult question. Is there enough in a work for it to be interesting? Is there too much so that it is confusing? Adding and subtracting and figuring out what is important to keep is the process of making.
This messy middle phase of a painting can go on for some time without a clear direction or understanding leading the process.
But then, toward the end of the making of a painting, something almost magical happens.
A harmonious balance materialises from all of the work that has gone before. Simply stated, it is a feeling or a sense that it is complete, or near complete. It is “just”.
A pleasing balance
“A sense of ‘just’ (or rightness) is a difficult concept to explain, but an easy one to understand. When moving objects around in your yard, or home, or on a page, there is a clear feeling when, after being continuously adjusted, they reach a perfect position. There is a single moment when all proportion, angles and elements settle in definitive balance. This balance is what every artist and designer searches and feels for when making an image.”
When I first read this paragraph in Sarah Simblet’s comprehensive book about drawing, Sketchbook for the Artist, I recogniseisd this feeling immediately.
I’ve felt it many times in my life of aesthetic interests. I know when something visual feels right to me, but Sarah Simblet put a word to this feeling: “Just”.
It’s the same with making art and knowing when a painting is finished: It feels right.
This sense, for me, is particularly important when making, or for that matter viewing purely abstract art. With no object of the real world to hang onto for reference, it's important to achieve this sense of “just” even more, in order to know that a work is completed.
So you might wonder what exactly am I looking for?
Is the value contrast pleasing and does the design move the eye around the painting? Are the colours harmonious?
Is there variety in the handling of materials in the work that make it exciting?
Is the surface interesting? Seeing rich surface texture on close up view is important to me to feel that little zing of pleasure that a work has “enough” in it.
Finally and most importantly, how does it feel to me? “Is it ‘just’?”, and if the answer is yes, then it is finished.
As an artist I have learned to trust my own intuition about these things in my work. It may not be the perfect painting, but it's perfect enough for me and when that happens it’s time to let it go out into the world for someone else to enjoy.
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