New paintings, hot off the easel, and some thoughts on art and life ...

There's a line from the old Johnny Cash song, "A Boy Named Sue" where a father explains to his son about giving him a girl's name. Dad says he knew he wouldn't be around to help his son growing up, but with that name, he'd have to "get tough or die." For years that was a saying in my family - if someone was whining about some problem we'd chime in with "Guess you'll have to get tough or die." Well, this past week as frost hit my garden and it's getting harder to find things to paint for my Year In The Garden project, I'm reminded of that saying. It applies both to my garden and to the artistic life.

Years ago I decided that in my garden I wanted plants that could perform, plants that could bloom where they're planted.  I didn't want to worry about frost, scurrying around to cover things every cold night of winter. I started observing which areas of the yard got frost and which parts were protected by thick shrubs, fences or trees. I placed some plants (like cymbidiums) in protected places, but that’s as far as I was willing to go. This year I was willing to bring some of my orchids indoors for a while, just so I'd have somethin to paint, but in general my gardening philosophy is to grow plants that can survive. Get tough or die!

It's like that in art. You have to toughen up, but you also have to find the right growing conditions.  You get to decide what you're willing to put up with and how much rejection you can stand. When you find your best growth conditions, stay there and paint!