Things to Learn

One of the very common questions you hear from beginner painters is how do you know when the picture is done? It’s a good question and I’ve heard two equally good answers to it. First, when you can find nothing else to add that would improve it. Second, when you’ve added just enough to meet your goals for the picture. Applying those answers to actual painting is more difficult because it involves judgement and taste rather than technical skill. (If painting was only about technical skill, then we really would have to worry about the robots.)

But I’ve found myself facing a different but related question; how do you know when to keep going? Yes, it’s a different question. One of the common issues with making art is the messy/ugly middle. It apples to painting and music and writing and pretty much every artistic endeavor. Most creative pieces go through a stage where they look awful, and if you’re not prepared to deal with that, it can be easy to get discouraged and give up. (It’s also why a lot of artists don’t like having someone watch them work, because the ugly stage can be very ugly indeed and observers who aren’t artists seldom understand.)

I had one of those with my most recent attempt at oils. My reach was far ahead of my painting chops grasp, but I was committed to the attempt. It was bad enough that I let it sit for a couple of weeks before I cam back to it wit fresher eyes, painted out nearly all of the detail, and started back in with value areas before finally tackling some of the details. It still didn’t come out great, but it was so much better (and so much more useful) than if I had abandoned it at the first difficult spot. (Or the second one if we’re being honest.)

Then there’s the flip side. Sometimes, after persevering through the weeds and finally seeing some positive progress, it’s easy to become enamored of your hard won knowledge. I made something that sort of looks kind of like the thing I wanted to paint! It’s all too easy to bask in the glow of what you’ve managed to accomplish and pretend that if you tried to add the extra work the piece needs to make it really good, that you’re just going to mess it up, so why bother. Have I completely messed up pieces by forging ahead like that? Oh, have I ever. Lots. But you need to get over it and stop being precious about your work. You can make another painting. You can draw that thing again. (And if you don’t try to make it exactly the same, chances are good it will be even better. Eventually.)

If you’re too worried about messing up a piece, I strongly suggest getting at least a photograph of the piece in a state you sort of like before diving back in. That way you have some documentation you can look back on after everything is done. (And take a photo of the messed up piece at the end too and really look at it. Learn from your mistakes.)

On the other other hand, sometimes you’re just emotionally done with a piece, Your brain is tired of looking at it, or (even better) you can tell it needs more work but you need to do some studying and practice to figure out what the work is and/or how to accomplish it. If you’re just making work for yourself, it’s fine to just stop and call a piece done just because you don’t think you’re going to get anything out of continuing to work on it. Just don’t cheat yourself out of too many learning opportunities.