knowing when your art is done

Rhythm (finished)

Awhile ago I posted some pictures of pieces I'd been working on asking how do you know when your work is done?  At the time I was sure that the piece below wasn't finished but I had no idea what was needed. I finished it last week by making round impressions and coloring them with brown. It made such a huge difference.

before - not quite there

In that same post, I was sure that the other piece was finished. But I pulled it out last week and attacked it with the scraper and torch and ended up with this.

SST (finished)

These changes are much more subtle ~ so subtle, I have a hard time noticing them myself. Yet the refinements are just what was needed.

before - not quite there (tho I thought it was)


These pieces were relatively new so they might not really qualify as "re-dos" or "do-overs".

But I have some older pieces that I just don't like. Some because my style has just evolved. Some because the composition was always off.

A few of these are hanging on the walls but most have been added back to the substrate pile to become the base of some future piece. Some even have gone in the trash.

It's the ones on the walls that I just am not sure about. Should I rework them, adding more layers but allowing the original to show through? Or should they be relegated to the substrate pile or trash?  Or should I keep them to remind me where I came from artistically (I do keep the photos)?

What do you do with the art you've made but no longer like?

SST is available for purchase on my website.