How to Finish a Painting
Do you struggle with how to finish a painting? How do you know if a painting is complete? Let me help! Finishing an acrylic painting can be difficult and challenging. It's hard to know when painting is finished and learn how to finish a painting with these tips from a professional painter. Learn about how to finish a painting in this helpful blog post below.
How to Finish a Painting
It can be hard to know when a painting is finished. Technically, you could keep painting forever and add a layer after layer after layer after layer to your painting.
But at some point, it's important to stop and learn how to finish a painting so that you can create an acrylic painting that you are happy with that you would love to hang on your wall, or give it as a gift to somebody, to sell it or be proud of it.
I want to share with you some things to consider so that you know how to finish a painting in acrylics.
Why is it Important to Know How to Finish a Painting?
If we don't finish a painting properly, we can paint for too long and this can lead to overworking a painting.
You can ruin a painting by overworking it because you're getting all the colours of what is called a body or brown and gray because you're mixing too many colours and layering to match paint.
It's important to stop your painting before the point of overworking your painting because we don't want to ruin a painting, we want to create something that's finished and looks complete.
Learn more about not overworking your acrylic painting by clicking here.
How to Finish a Painting- Tips
Here are some tips for how to finish a painting in acrylics.
Hang your painting on the wall and step back and take a look at it
When you are spending a lot of time painting on a table or I can either you are very close to your painting and you are noticing a lot of problems, areas and parts of your painting that you don't like. But usually we don't view art this way. We are up close to a painting, staring at it all day. Instead, the painting is hanging on the wall, and we are looking at it and appreciating its beauty from a distance.
So, whenever you think you are almost done with a painting, I want you to hang it up on the wall and stand back a few feet so that you are looking at it from the distance so that it will be observed naturally in your home, or in an art gallery. If you were looking at your paintings from a distance and there are still parts of your painting that bother you then you can go ahead and fix those areas but if you're painting looks good hanging on the wall from a distance that leave your painting alone this is a good time to stop painting.
Just Like Any Art Form Take a Break and Come Back
It's a good idea to take a break and come back to your painting by having a good nights rest and coming back to your painting the next morning or afternoon, you will be looking at your painting with a fresh set of eyes and not feeling tired. By doing this, you won't be able to make a decision of whether your painting is finished or not.
Finish the Details of Your Painting
It's a good idea to finish the details of your painting I like to ensure that the edges of my campus are painted if I am painting on a canvas you can do this by painting all of your edges with black acrylic paint or what I like to do is I like to continue the painting around the sides of my canvas so if I am painting a light blue sky at the top of my painting I'm going to add that same light blue colour and make sure that I add it to the top edges of my canvas as well.
Seal Your Painting to Protect It
It's also good to add a thin clear coat of varnish to your acrylic painting. This will help seal in the colours and protect them from fading with UV rays overtime. You can choose a matte varnish or something shiny. Experiment with varnish on a small painting before doing it to a larger painting you love.
When you are adding a clear coat of varnish to your painting, you want to ensure that your paint brush is clean. It's even better to use a brand new paintbrush for this. I like using a flat paintbrush, so that the varnish is nice, and even coat it.
So that's how you finish a painting in acrylics with these three easy tips. If you have found these tips helpful please comment below on the blog post and let me know. Be sure to check out my YouTube channel Jackie Partridge Art and please subscribe and like my videos to show your support.
If you are a beginner, acrylic painter, I would love you to download my free 10 page, acrylic painter, guy. This helps you move from a beginner painter to an intermediate painter by giving you inks to helpful tutorials for you to try and improve your acrylic painting.
