Side-tracked or an opportunity?

"Blessing all around if we pay attention." That is what I wrote in 1983 in the book I talked about several days ago on my Golden Years Blog. The trick is to know if I am getting side-tracked from my goals or am I looking at an opportunity (blessing)?

This morning as I was headed to my easel to continue on yesterday's painting, I received an email asking about purchasing a print of a one of my paintings.

Am I getting side-tracked by answering now? I could have replied briefly but once I found the painting image and its history I was hooked and I decided to treat it as an opportunity.

First, I had to remember the painting. Originally it was 13 x 14 inches and looked like this:

Seven years later, in 2014 I found it in my studio and cropped it to 10 x 8 inches for a stronger composition and posted it for purchase online.  K.F. in Wisconsin saw it on Etsy and it is now in her collection.

I love the painting, that is why it was still in my Studio seven years after I painted it. My art database tells me it was shown at three of my galleries from 2007 to 2012 but it didn't sell. When a painting doesn't sell, it can be a part of another opportunity. If it had sold, I wouldn't have revisited it and cropped it into a more intimate scene, made contact with that online collector through Etsy, and I wouldn't be writing this blog today.

I can choose to use this painting as an opportunity.
1. This painting can become a print in its original format or new size.
2. I can paint the scene again more loosely, in keeping with my current interest and style.
3. I can make a video of painting it again and learn more (aarghhh) about posting videos to my blog.

In the coming year, I encourage you to pay attention each day, to be present for family and friends and open to opportunities. I also suggest a good art database - I wrote mine in FileMaker Pro but there are ready-made art databases available.