Finishing Touches

A dab of blue here, a touch more white for that highlight, maybe one more curl in the child's hair. These are the finishing touches that turn an OK painting into something that a client will love, that a judge will select for an award. But, how do you know when you've put on that last finishing touch?

Patti admits "This is by far the hardest dilemma for an artist. Most never feel a painting is done. If I don’t get it out of my sight, there is always something I think needs fixing."

For Kim, "A painting is NEVER done." However, she sees this as a double edged sword. Kim recalls hearing about one artist who never considered his work complete. He would show up at museums where his work was on display and continue painting on them as if he were in his studio. He would tell the curator that the lighting or shadow just wasn’t right. That's one extreme. The other side of this quest for perfection is that continuing when you should have stopped: "I also believe that every artist has created a million dollar masterpiece once or twice in their life and then tweaked it into an ordinary painting."

Some artists include hidden messages, symbols, an image of themselves or some guy named Waldo in their work. What would you find if you looked really long and hard at a peice by Patti or Kim? "No hidden messages, but I did add a dragonfly to my signature", says Kim. She puts her first name as her signature, followed by the Roman Numeral year and her dragonfly in the lower right corner of the painting. On the back is the title of the painting, the month and year it was completed, and her full name. Patti keeps it very simple, signing her first name and the Roman Numeral year in the lower right-hand corner of her work. Because of the requirements of many of the art shows, she may begin adding the title to the back of the painting.

In the end, Kim believes that painting is about moving someone, even the artist. "A painting stirs the soul or it does not; it is beautiful in the beholders eye or it is not; it is for the viewer to know and the rest to guess what has moved them. My goal is to move someone even if it turns out to be me."


Above: Patti painted this image of her husband, Tim