Patsy, may I suggest you try another medium for a while.... I would say it worked for me, but actually I find I'm slipping back into the bad old ways, principally with acrylic - I think because it's so easy to fiddle with acrylic, just adding that extra little bit ... Despite what I say above, I do recognize it as a problem! What I'm planning to do is revert to oil and watercolour for a while, and maybe do some knife painting which I've not done for many years. Have a crack at it, and we can see how we both get on.

Fiddling is what I do these days...never happy that's why I have posted little over this past couple of monthe...getting on my own nerves

A steady hand, a disciplined approach, every brush or pen stroke is considered, no deadlines, time on my hand, any stretched canvas is an expensive commodity. A sort of paint once and once only and move on to the next area. To paint the same area twice would be fiddling. A unique style applied to simple subjects that are often dismissed as not being worthy of an artist's time. The time to stop for me is simple..the canvas is covered in paint...all the low-lighs are added all the high-lights are added and any that I have missed are simply ignored, it gets signed, it gets photographed. The need to correct seldom occurs now [easy I know because I only work in acrylics]. A computer file is generated which contains notes on what worked well and what did not, useful for similar future works...But thank you for your considered analysis which as ever Robert is a good read too.

i must say that i find it difficult sometimes to know when i am fiddling and when i am actually finishing off my work. i think i have the tendancy to abandon rather than finish properly, especially if i think its not going as i hoped. still, i am hoping that as i gain experience my instincts for these things will improve. keep up the blogs