A question that many students ask me "when do you know you are finished with a painting"?
I usually answer that you will know when it's done because you won't know what else to do.
You may or may not like the finished piece, but just because you may not like the painting doesn't mean it isn't finished. If you don't like the painting in the end,
and you keep on going over and over areas trying to fix things, that usually results in making things worse. Many times it best to leave it looking fresh and not overworked, even though you may not like it exactly the way it is. Leave washes fresh and clean, this makes it look like the wash was exactly like you had intended, even though it may not have been the way you intended it to be at all.
An example of this is demonstrated in the painting above. I do not
like the way I painted the front of the church building. I could have scrubbed and washed the area out and repainted the area making it look more realistic, but then it probably would have drawn attention to an overworked area where I really don't want the viewers eyes going to. I want the viewers eyes to first see the people and under the lit up awning, where my center of interest is.
Now that I said this, you are constantly looking at the church, aren't you. I bet when
you first looked at the image above you just saw a nice painting, not looking closely at details. This is the reason I tell students to get up and look at their work from a distance and walk away from your work and come back and look at it with a fresh eye. Keep you painting clean and simple, don't over think or over work it.
