Way back in the early 80s I restarted painting (after playing around with art in my late teens / early 20s (late 60s, early 70s), I mainly created abstracts and back then I would have declared this work finished before I’d added the bird.

I persisted in that way, despite a supervisor I worked under in Galveston (at the County Clerk’s office) suggesting I add “something” he could key on within the work to make it work for him, until I moved on to playful surreal work then my long term favorite, Impressionism.

Recently I’ve again returned to abstracts, and found myself haunted by this gracious man’s words. He’d liked my work, but it just seem complete to him. Somehow, nearly four decades later, I’ve come to the same conclusion: I needed “something” identifiable to feel the work was complete 🙂

Though not nearly as minimal, I see the lineage to a painting I just finished around the same time but knew was complete, “Birds and Sailboat in Paradise” and to another I completed the very 1st of this year, “Surfing the Light” –

– all of which I think will take me to “Deciding When My Painting is Done, Part 2 – Stopping Myself Before I Ruin My Own Art” 🙂

Because, if a work is really to be “my” work of art, I’m the one who really has to decide when it’s done. Right? No? Maybe? (smiles)

Thanks so much for coming by!

Adan

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