In the past few weeks, I’ve been making artwork on paper. I’m satisfied with the images, and I’ve signed them. I’ve blogged about them. But are they finished? These pieces look finished in photos, but they exist in my studio as a stack of wrinkled papers weighted down to prevent more buckling. If I have the opportunity to exhibit or sell these pieces, I will need to do some more work before they are ready to go out the door. So that means they’re not finished.

This week, I updated a checklist that I’ve been using to finish and document my artwork for many years. My goal is to have pieces in my inventory that are ready to hang and are documented in a database. My database goes back about 20 years although some of the earlier work does not have digital photos. This can be tedious, but I’m glad I have it when I want to remind myself of how much work I have done. It shows what is available for a show. Also, having a database makes it easy to produce inventory lists and labels.

Summer Garden #1 signature

The finishing process starts with my signature. I signed the piece with my chop (personal symbol), then photographed it.

Summer Garden #1 detail

I also photographed details to show on the blog. I made a copy of the photos with lower resolution to use on the blog.

Monoprint on card stock is mounted on a cradled panel

This monoprint, Summer Garden #1, is on card stock. I mounted it on a cradled panel with black sides using acrylic matte medium for glue. I will varnish it so it doesn’t need to be under glass. I’ll keep the checklist with the piece until I varnish several pieces at once.

Art Inventory on Airtable Database
©2020 Lucinda Howe

To document the work, I keyed the information into an Airtable database. I used the inventory number to identify the photos.

Once I’ve completed this checklist, I consider my work finished and ready to go out the door.

What do you think about this finishing process? How do you know when your work is finished?  Do you document your work? What process do you use?