When is a painting finished?

I am trying to teach myself not to overwork my paintings. It is not easy. That is why it is both important and fun to take photos of my work in progress so that I can go back and see and learn when and where to stop. And if I find that I have already gone too far, it will be a lesson for the next painting. And then again from that to the next painting. I guess that is a question that many artists ask themselves, when is a painting finished? Or when is a stage in a painting finish and you should move on to the next stage?

Take this Raven painting as an example. Since last week I have painted I think 4 or 5 more layers on the background. Now when I looked back at last weeks blog post before starting to write today, I was like, "why did I not stop there?" Then again, it now has a more 'antique' feel to it, so I think it will work out in the end anyway.

Backgrounds for flowers. Here I have really tried not to put down too many layers. 

Here is a background that I am very pleased with. It is messy and not too many layers. But it works really well I think as a backdrop for this gorgeous little Crested-tit. Here I have just drawn him in with a white pastel pen.

The first layer of oil colours.

And here I have added some more details. One more layer should do the trick. 

Thumbnail sketches for a barn owl painting. I know what colours I would like to use, so I tried to work out the composition for the bird.

And last, as always, this weeks video: