I told everyone in the crit that originally the tape wasn’t meant to be part of my final piece. I used it because my first painting was only supposed to be a tester and it was a quick and easy way to get straight lines. However after completing it I decided it work really well, if I had taken it off they would have just been paintings. My tutors also agreed that it worked really well by leaving it on so I adopted this method in all five paintings. I think the bit of paint left on the edges and smudged bits adds another personal touch, like the fact you can see that I am right handed because the paint is smudged on the right and you can see what colours I used and the mistakes I made.
The response the tape got in the crit was great. I was afraid that they would think it just made them look messy and unprofessional but they agreed that the tape and extra paint bits added something.