# When can you say a painting is finished?



## Arduy (May 31, 2020)

I wanted to ask you all for some thoughts about this question: “When can you say a painting is finished?” At a very younger age, I didn’t seem to have this problem. I just stopped at a certain point, happy and satisfied about the results, and that was it. No thoughts afterwards. But now I’m having a terrible time deciding when my painting could be considered completed. My last painting, that you could see in one of my recent posts, made me think about it. I have a feeling that the painting is still missing something that could be added. Or maybe I'm making a fuss about it for nothing, and going on painting will resolve the issue at some point. Thank you for your time.


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## Steve Neul (Jul 28, 2020)

Really, you are the only one to satisfy. I know what you mean though, I've got paintings I thought were done but as I set them up and look at them for a while see things I'm not satisfied with so I will be touching them up. I did a painting yesterday that had a river in it and painted it different than the photo. In the photo there was so much glare on the water it looked nearly white but I didn't paint it that way. Now looking at it the color of the water it's too close to the color of the landscape so I will probably go back over it with white caps to lighten it.


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