Oil Painting of a Sailboat Part 3

Now, I come back to the focal point of the painting, the sailboat. First, I use white color to refine the shapes of the sails and then the shape of the body of the boat. To create the reflection of the sailboat on the water, I am holding my brush with the white color and very lightly touching the surface of the canvas. Next, I am adding dark blue lines and dashes to suggest the water wave shadows.

To wrap up this small painting, I also add some suggestion for a person on the boat and add some white shapes to the sky area for clouds.

When should we stop and call that the painting is finished? I am sure everyone stops and finishes the painting at different points because everyone is looking for different results in each painting. Also, different audiences, different messages, and different purposes will effect the decision. For this painting, it is a color study. When I find the color composition that I am happy about, I may stop the experiment. I may continue if I see some more changes that I should make or if I am not yet totally satisfied with the look. In the case that I have new color schemes and compositions that I like to explore, I may pick up new canvases to do a few more painting exercises.