One of the hardest aspects of painting, for me, is knowing when the picture is finished. Will one more touch enhance the image, detract from it, or worse, ruin it altogether? Where's the line between unfinished and overworked? Masterpiece and mess? And how do you tell before you've crossed it so you know when to stop?
There's a scene from The Agony and the Ecstasy, about painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, where Pope Julius asks Michelangelo (Charlton Heston), "When will you make an end?" "When I am finished," the artist replies.
But how will you know when it is finished? That's what I want to know.
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1 comment:
I had this on my site a while back, I really liked it:
To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de grace for the painter as well as for the picture.
Pablo Picasso
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