Finishing a painting

Thomas S. Buechner has written a book called "How I Paint, Secrets of a Sunday Painter". At the end he gives a few thoughts on finishing a painting I thought I might pass on to you. I know many of us do some of the same things and you may have things you would like to add.

"When I think a picture is finished, I put it in another place, away from the subject on which is is based. The paint is still wet, palette and brushes are still hand. It is in a different light and on its own. I am no longer busy with matchng some reality. The question now is how to make it better, stronger, more to the point, maybe even striking. Ater all, it is destined to go out into the world all by itself.

What have I made? Is it just anothe sample of my craft? Does it have anything to do with the idea I started with? Pictures do have a life of their own, and a death, too. The more I look at something, the more I see, and discover. Changing course to some degree is inevitable, but if the whole picture isn't going in the same direction, to the same purpose, it is likely to fall apart, and my tolerance for flotsam is shrinking fast. What to do?

First, I decide what the picture is really about and then what I can get rid of, what is not contributng to the central idea, what is distracting. Usually, these problems are caused by small contrasts that divert attention, such as shifts in color or value, or intricate details painstakingly observed and proudly rendered. I painted them because I saw them, but that's not reason enough. You can spot a deer by a movement in the woods; you don't have to see the fuzz on its antlers to know it's there. Extraneous matter in a painting can really weaken the impact. I either paint it out or reduce the contrast.

Second, I review the way space has been made to see if I can heighten the illusion. Have I used the warm colors to pull forward, the cools to push them back? Have I used stronger contrasts in the foreground, weaker ones in the background? Have I used less detail as forums receide? Have I used perspecive effectively? Sequence of brushstrokes?

Third, I cheack how attention is focused. The eye is just like a self-focusing camera lens in that it must have an edge, a contrast, on which to focus. Where are the strongest contrasts in dark and light, warm and cool, color, edge sharpness, and paint texure? Do the contrasts make sense in terms of spatial relationships? A ship on the distant horizon with too-red sails will certainly attract attention--and ruin any sense of aerial perspective. Contrasts have to be appropriate to the space they are in, but they must also work in an abstract sense; they are the only means by which we can attract attention and deliver content.

Fourth, and finally, I look for a situation or two where a couple of final, exquisitely deft strokes will convinece everybody that I know what I'm doing."

To see some of his paintings go to http://www.tombuechner.com/index.html

Note to mailing list: To view past blog messages or to make a comment on the public blog, click here.