Making changes to a completed pianting

One of the hardest decisions I often have to make is whether to return to a completed panting and work on it again or leave it alone. What happens is the more you paint, the more you learn. One day you look at one of your previous completed paintings (that hasnt sold of course), and you notice something about it that now bothers you. You think you can fix it with the upgraded knowledge you've acquired over time. Maybe its an incorrect placement of your focal point, maybe you could've chosen a better color to use on an object, possibly your human figure can be better now that you've worked/practiced them more the past year or two. Well, here are my thoughts on the matter.

For me it has basically turned out 60/40. There's something about "going back" and revising a painting that is not always 100% successful. There've been times when I've completed a revision I felt the painting needed only to go back and compare a photo of the initial version to the new. Quite often the first version now appeared better than the revised. By attempting to improve the painting I maybe tightened it up. Maybe the color I had on an object was right and I mistakenly thought it had to be more saturated or subdued. Maybe I created an edge where it really didnt need one. Maybe I should've left the angle of the building the way it was instead of altering it.

Sometimes a painting is finished when it's finished the first time. However, I have to say that many times I have improved on a painting with recently acquired knowledge and technique. I've learned I have to hesitate from simply putting the first version on the easel and immediately starting in on it with my so called "new knowledge." I now do a careful study of the first painting. If it's composition and drawing Im thinking of changing, I take some time to sketch it out to see how it's gonna look before I possibly mess the painting up and then Im never able to get it back to the way it was. If it's a color or value change I think it needs on an object, I brush on a small sampling of the new color and study it before I apply more. Remember if it's not right, the more you apply the more you'll have to remove. Even wiping a small area of fresh wet paint off can have an undesired affect on the dried paint underneath and you might have another problem to address. Another thing you can do is paint a simple block version (little detail) of the first painting on a small 8x10 canvas and paint the change(s) in there and evaluate how the new color or value meshes with those around it. Same thing with linear and composition changes as I mentioned above.

It's a gamble but the odds are in favor of succeeding if you simply take the time to analyze if the changes you want to make are really going to improve the painting a good step forward. And here's the catch...sometimes, even a minor change to a completed painting can make a major positive difference to it. Think about it and make a studied decision before jumping right into making the change.