Important Advice for Finishing a Painting

'A Moment of Silence'                    16x20              pastel              ©Karen Margulis
available $250

 It was a great question. I had a discussion with an artist last evening about finishing a painting. She wondered if it was OK to leave areas at the edges of a painting unfinished. She told me she is a very detailed oriented artist and feels compelled to finish everything....meaning she likes to add the detail all over including up to the edges of the painting.  Leaving areas vague and unfinished just doesn't feel right. But is it OK?

Edgar Degas weighed in on the idea of leaving a little mystery and vagueness in our paintings when he said the following:

“A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people.”

My demo board

I started this marsh painting as a workshop demo and decided to add some finishing touches back in the studio.  As you can see in the  photo below it is quite 'unfinished' at the bottom and side edges. I could easily continue painting the details in the trees and grasses all over and even go as far as have a more photo realistic finish. But I reminded myself of the Degas quote and asked myself what was important to the painting.

It was about the glow of color in the trees. It wasn't about the foreground grasses or even the foliage at the  edges of the trees.  I didn't need to finish and paint every stalk and blade of grass and every leaf.  I had permission to leave it mysterious and even a bit vague. A few carefully placed pieces of grass  and leaves would invite the viewer to participate and fill in the rest of the details. The mystery in the foreground and edges invites the viewer into the scene. They are not stopped by a wall of grass or crisp detail everywhere.

The demo painting before I refined it in the studio

Note that I also decided to tone down the brightness of the glow and make it more subtle. This painting is on Uart 500 with a dry wash underpainting.