You may not like my answer, Virgil. I don’t care if anyone, including myself, think these are finished paintings. What I think simply doesn’t matter. To those Artists, anyway. If they all felt that their work was finished, then I would have to accept that and perceive them exactly as they are.

My own work, however, requires some decision-making for me to consider it done and over with. My goal is always to keep my work fresh, limiting the number of times I run my brush over a region. This is an important distinction for me because a particular region or element may not be exactly as I envisioned it. But, I work hard to prevent overworking everything. So, that element may or may not be finished. I have to decide if it’ll fit within the composition as a whole.

If I cannot do another thing to improve my painting then it must be finished. It won’t matter to me if others believe it to be a finished work, or not.

Some finishes are not as satisfactory as others. That brings to mind one painting in particular. I was furiously painting to accumulate enough work for a solo exhibition. I was working on a composition of heirloom tomatoes on the vine and set them into a garden with lots of greens and vines. They disappeared into the busy background and the whole was awful. I deepened the values of those greens and made it worse. In frustration, I painted the background black. I did hate this piece by now. Hated it. I hung it anyway. It was the first piece that sold. Go figure.

Was it finished? Perhaps.

All the paintings struck a chord with me, except the last. to me it did not look finished, isn’t that strange? I suppose the others linked with a memory and I imagined a previous scene. Thought provoking.

For me, the painting is approaching finished when I switch from my 2 ‘go to’ brushes, a 1″ flat and a 1/2″ flat. This is when I am into finishing details.

Virgil, I think you missed my point. There wasn’t a question of being judgemental.

What I was feebly trying to say that it is the Artist who decides if his work is finished or not. I can only view what he’s posted or exhibited. At that point, the decision as to it’s work state is moot. So, in my opinion, all the paintings you posted are finished. The Artist signed off on them and they are now forever in the ethernet as Paintings. It doesn’t matter whether or not I think these paintings are finished. Those Artists considered them finished.

I did say that if I realize I cannot add one more thing to improve my work, then it must be finished. It might be filled with lumps and bumps, but in my process, I’ll not attempt to fix them.

What I’m trying to explain is that it is really important for each individual to understand that point where nothing more can be done to improve a work, and at that point declare it finished.

I don’t know if this is interesting or not… I posted a painting in the Gallery many years ago of a still life. The fruit included a very odd looking pear along with a banana and an apple. In the comments of that thread, I was constantly explaining that one of the pieces of fruit was a pear. I loved its odd shape, but my Viewers never really understood it. Nick Simmons (RIP) told me that when I have to explain the elements in my work, the painting has failed.

In this case, I considered the painting finished. And it was. It just didn’t pass muster with my Viewers. I never conveyed my intent.

The painting is done when the artist says it is. End of story.

I might paint a face and call it finished when another artist paints the same exact face in the same exact way and says it’s not finished until line work is added with a black felt-tip pen.

To each his own style, to each his own aesthetic, to each his own end result.

For myself, I wish I knew when a painting is finished, and would stop. I am guilty of taking a great, fresh, expressive watercolor to an overpainted, dull piece to many times.

I don’t have a good barometer, allowing me to see the piece, see the art; instead I fall in to watching the paint move out of my brush. I paint it to death.

I think the paintings in this thread are finished, most look as if adding more would start to detract. That’s a talent or developed skill to see the moment to quit painting, the moment more will detract.

I think many who post and ask “is my painting done,” are really looking for suggestions to correct problems in composition, color, mud, etc., hoping to make it look more finished, more complete.

For myself, it’s difficult to post and say “when was my painting finished? When should I have put the brush down?”