I had someone ask me that question one time, and if you’ve never visited a studio, it probably is a perplexing question. I laughed it off then gave serious thought to “What do I do?”
Well…I throw down paint most days. I’d say that 99% of the time they are intentional and I know what my goal is in the end. How to get there is the hardest of the process. Decisions have to be made: what size am I thinking the subject matter should be? Horizontal or vertical format? What palette and brush am I using? How do I start with my drawing? Where’s the darkest, the lightest, the focal point?
And that’s just the beginning. Where do I make it “strong and interesting”? Do I add cooler here and warmer there? Do I get out of the box and follow my intuition of a bit more abstract? The middle stage is sometimes the most thought provoking and the time I need to step away and let it just “sit” there until I can have fresh eyes. Clean the studio, browse through pictures, go for a walk, go to lunch - anything to get me out of the studio and away from what I’m working on.
The finish. Is it ever? When you can see no more corrections, no place to put that last brush stroke, and it shows your intention…maybe yes.