Process

Stop Painting Halfway: An Exercise to Avoid Overworking Your Art

Overworking your paintings? Try stopping on purpose, way before you think you’re done. A simple exercise to keep your art fresh, loose, and raw.

Here’s a different way to avoid overworking your paintings: stop on purpose, way earlier than you want to.

Start with a simple subject

I love working with one object. With no miles of landscape and tons of information to get caught up in, you can focus on one shape or two. That makes it easier to work on specific ideas, like loosening up your hand, your vision, or your range of motion.

Step 1: Draw it first

I always start with a drawing. Break the subject into basic shapes. Here, a juice carton is a box in space, with a triangle on top and a thin rectangle above that. I’m not worried about perfect perspective. The point is to see like an artist and get the hand moving, and you never stop doing this. See draw it first before painting loose.

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Step 2: Paint on scrap

Then I switch to paint on a piece of scrap canvas. I treat unstretched canvas like paper, doodling and playing. Sometimes I find something good, cut it out, and stretch it. Colors don’t have to match. I’m just playing with value, shadow, and a loose label.

Step 3: Stop

Here’s the whole lesson. When it gets to a good place, stop. Not because it’s finished, but because if I keep going, it’ll tighten up. When you stop early:

You don’t have to make any more decisions
You can revisit it tomorrow or next week
You catch the raw, expressive stage before you ruin it

Do a few in a row. Then try crayon or a different medium on the next one.

Step 4: Put them away, then look again

Don’t judge them right away. Put them aside for three or four days, then come back. You’re a different person, with different energy. Spread them out and take them in.

You’ll notice two things: overpainting is easy to do, and there’s real beauty in the raw, imperfect stage. A little light blue can describe a whole corner. A bit of pink can give the back of a container shape. You miss these when you’re pushing for a result.

Why this works

Early on, I felt like I had to start and finish everything, partly to have something to show for my time. Stopping early breaks that habit. It also gives you a chance to see your work in a stage you would normally paint over.

For more, see how to know when to stop painting, let your art sit, and 10 tips for painting loose.

Learn Structure. Paint Loose.

Construct. Deconstruct. Explore. Repeat.