When is a mistake not a mistake?

I've heard it said that the best paintings are the ones with the fewest mistakes. If those words are taken literally, all paintings would look like photographs. Some do and I have even painted to get as close to a photograph as I could. I don't think a painting that looks like a photograph can be better than the photograph. Ok, so it's skilful to be able to copy a photograph and the painting will look good, buts what's the point. Paintings can be full of 'mistakes' and still look good, especially with impressionist paintings. You have to give the impression of something that looks right. Colours do not need to be right, trees can be moved, added or removed, straight lines do not have to be straight and people don't need feet or necks. Anything goes as long as it gives the impression of being right. Sometimes it is possible to paint something right and give the impression of being wrong. In my latest painting, I painted a shadow on some snow. The shadow coincided with a patch of snow on the back of a tree, also in shadow. It gave the impression that the snow somehow passed through the tree. That is the sort of thing that ruins a good painting yet it is not really a mistake and these are hard to spot. It wasn't a mistake, but it looked like one until I changed it.

Another, and perhaps more dangerous, mistake to make is to put too much detail into a painting. It is hard to know when to stop putting in detail and it just takes longer to finish the painting and adds nothing. Most of the time the viewer will not even notice if something is there or not. Once the scene has been captured, it's time to stop. There is no need to paint every brick in a wall and if you try it could ruin a good painting. Once the painting feels finished, it's time to sign it off and forget it. I am really pleased with my latest painting (BTW it's two on from the one I mentioned when I started writing this), but if I compare it to the photograph I used to paint from, I start to notice differences and ask myself questions like: why didn't I paint that bit darker or that shadow straighter. It doesn't matter! It's definitely time to start preparing the next painting.