This is answering the question “How do you know when you’re finished?” when it comes to a painting or creative project, especially something that is without a deadline and/or is not using a reference but is invented or from imagination. This answer is the way I tend to think about it, and expands on the concept of that answer that is based on a feeling of being finished, which of course includes being sufficiently satisfied with the technical aspects of the piece, but in this article, I focus more on the feeling of knowing something is finished, and what that means.

I understand why it’s asked. It’s as if to say “without a deadline or reference point of some sort, it feels as if you could just keep going on and on, and never be finished.” So I think in order to answer that question, it might help to consider a bit about what the process holds for us. In hindsight, while feeling we might be close to a finish, we can remind ourselves that in the process of creating we’ve experienced reflection, wonder, growth, and how being attentive to the ways in which these things have affected us is helpful to meeting ourselves on a deeper level within that process.

 

Here are some things to consider when reflecting on the creative experience, and some points that might factor in to how we know if and when we might be finished: In the process of creating, we’ve been faced with problems and solved them, with challenges and overcome them. We’ve honed our skills and leaned into our strengths. We’ve been introduced to new ways of experiencing something and we’ve found ways to weave that into what we know. We’ve explored and discovered. We’ve encouraged the opportunity to slow down and reclaim our peace and spend time with ourselves, spend time wandering in our inner world, reminding ourselves to come to a place of curiosity and presence. We’ve worked, we’ve played, we’ve practiced our skills and saw something through.

So, as we find ourselves at a place that we might consider to be the finish, this is when we are in a space to acknowledge all of that. To accept that this painting or project has brought us to a point to truly see the growth in the experience for what it is. To spend time in the last moments of creating this painting and observe quietly the places this has taken us, to accept that we can see this finished piece as a representation of this, of where we are right now, in this moment, and to stand with integrity in that knowing.

We can see this when we reflect on the painting experience, and the image we’ve painted as well. The painting is a reflection. It’s a mirror to show us this experience, and it holds all that has unfolded in the experience within it.

The feeling of “knowing we’re finished” is a reflecting on the experience and seeing and feeling that it’s time to move on. It’s successfully moved us in some way. We’re grateful for what it’s shown us, and if we want to, we can revisit it at any time. Because here it is. It’s a rune we’ve left behind for ourselves to find whenever we might need it, and incidentally, it may even show our future selves something new that we hadn’t seen or felt or thought of in the space we were in when we were making it.

To me, a finish doesn’t necessarily signify an end. It’s more like a chapter in the ongoing story of life’s experiences. And as I sit back to observe the piece I’ve just created, and ponder to think about whether it has successfully fulfilled many of the things I’ve mentioned above, and in that moment, I can answer “yes, it has”.. then it’s finished.