When is a Painting Finished?

Sometimes I struggle with when to stop adding to my paintings. It is a question of when is enough detail or color enough? I have learned so much about the values of colors and how important it is to have differences and graduations between the darks and the lights in a painting.  But I still struggle at times with areas in a painting to make them look believeably real. I am a realist in my style of painting, and so am a stickler for detail and accuracy. My mentor however, does not waste a lot of time on detail, he paints beautifully and lets the viewer fill in the details he has not bothered to paint.

My instructor,  Reif Erickson, of Auburn is a master pastelist. He has written four books on the subject of painting and he has been a very successful pastel artist for many years. He is amazing to watch as he uses an photo as our object lesson of the day. He begins his sketch and then begins to apply the darker undertonesof color in various areas of the painting.

It is a treat to watch him start a painting from its early sketch with a darker pastel to its completion. He studies the photo and decides what he will include, and what he will leave out. Sometimes he will take a portion of a landscape photo and turn it into a portrait style of painting.  He takes time to sketch the details and scale of the painting. He can complete a 9" X 13" landscape pastel painting in about 30 minutes. He takes a drab photo, with washed out colors and within a short time creates a beautiful painting that has all of the undertones and colors lacking in the photo. What had been and unremarkable photo, becomes a painting that stimulates our eyes because the scene is so alive. He is a master in the use of color. When one stands six feet away, the painting looks so complete and beautiful, however, when one gets close, it is amazing how little detail is really there. Our eyes fill any voids, and blend colors to complete the painting.

I paint detail because I want to be able to show my viewer the beauty of something I see. I want them to experience every nuance and color that I found so interesting. I love to look paintings done by fellow artists who are as obsessed with detail as I am. I enjoy seeing their ability to show the grain of wood on a barn, the detail they have recreated in the bark of a tree, or the sheen of a horses coat from the sunlight. I marvel at their ability to paint life truly as they see it.  Looking at their paintings is like looking at a window of life for me. Perhaps that is why I am mired in detail, and not able to just splash color on a canvas and stop when I have a likeness. My goal is to recreate what I have seen so I can share what drove me to replicate it, not have you the viewer, fill in what I didn't paint and try and interpret what I was trying to communicate. I know my art may fascinate and please some who are wired like me. I also know that for those who think in the abstract, it will have no interest at all. That is okay too for there are other artists out there to please them. I on the other hand will continue to paint until it has reached my personal standard.  

The attached beach scene of a northern California Beach was one that I fussed over. I wanted to make sure that the surf looked real, so that the viewer could recall the way it breaks and spreads out on the sand and then recedes leaving a streamming of water as it flows back. I hope you enjoy my painting, and it brings back a memory for you.