Last night I finished the final layers on 'The Woods'.
I have been working on this painting over the course of many months. I have a system of moving 'finished' paintings into the hallway for a month or two before I move them into the sunroom, (the viewing room). This time gives me a chance to evaluate whether they do infact need anything more or are truly complete.
Many times I feel a work is complete, only to change my mind a little while later. This 'resting' phase has become an important stage in the paintings life. It either moves forward into the sunroom, where it can be seen by people coming to have a look at what is new from the studio, or it gets reworked and added to in some way that hopefully enriches it.
Sometimes, I have overworked paintings and 'lost' them after deciding they needed something more but that is just part of the process of creating. If it feels like it needs something else and I didn't take it back in for a rework I would feel unsatisfied moving it to the sunroom.
It is worth the possibility of losing the painting along the way in order to feel it is truly complete. It takes walking past them on the way to the studio door and looking at them over time from different perspectives on different days, to know for sure.
This painting sat in the hall for some months. I would take it out into the sunroom, only to bring it back into the hall again. I am glad I did. The extra couple of layers really added to the mood and I now feel satisfied with the finish.
So, out to the sunroom she goes, ready for someone to find it a new home in theirs!