I have often seen 'work in progress' paintings posted on the gallery and find myself wishing that the artist in question would just stop at that point and add nothing else. I also often like my paintings when they are about halfway done better than when they are finished. Is this because I have kept ploughing on well beyond the point that the painting had said all that it needed to say, I wonder, which leads me on to the tricky problem of knowing when a painting is finished. I actually think that this issue is critical to the success of a painting and is one that so many people struggle with. I have seen people comment under their posting that they think they have over-worked a painting, or that they didn't stop at a given point and it has affected their view of the success of their work. I find that when I approach a work I get going with great gusto and go merrily along slapping the paint on. However, there comes a definite point when I start to get very nervous about going too far and I dramatically slow down, considering each additional brushstroke carefully. I have found that one too many brush-strokes can turn a painting from a success into bin fodder - a scary thought. I find that the stopping point for each painting is different. With my pen and wash I can go a lot further for some reason, often covering most of the paper with paint. With my other paintings, not so, as I find that filling the page with paint shuts the painting down and it doesn't then seem to be able to breath. Each individual subject needs a different approach on this front as well, so all in all, the stopping point for paintings appears to be a minefield. I think it takes a bit of courage to just put your brush down and say - that's it - done. I like to think that when I stop I still feel that I could add another tweak here or brush-stroke there, but that I have resisted. It's a bit like not overeating and trying to stop before you feel too full, but that's not just hard, it is almost impossible for me if a nice chocolate pudding is on the menu lol!