How does an artist decide what they want to paint next? Do you paint what you think the 'public' will want to buy? Do you paint things that you find interesting? Where to start?

A well respected artist once told me that every 4th painting should be something I personally would love to paint that fuels my passion. Another well respected artist once told me that I should paint what I feel love because it will show in my paintings! I think both artists are correct but I would like to add that I really enjoy delivering a painting to its new owner and seeing the joy that person experiences from my art!

And then there is the serendipitous - when art and life meet in an unexpected way. This just happened to me this fall and it has brought me GREAT joy! One of the things I like to paint are my favorite guitarists, especially Tommy Shaw from STYX. My painting, 'Guitarman', which had already won an award in a national show, was juried into the prestigious Oil Painters of American Eastern Regional Show hosted by the McBride Gallery in Annapolis, MD. The show opening was October 28th. I could not attend the opening as I had tickets to see STYX with a 'Meet and Greet' ticket where you get to meet the band. Meantime, Art Collector Magazine had an article with a 6 page spread on the OPA Eastern Regional Show and one of the paintings featured in the article was 'Guitarman'! Very cool! Now for the fun part! During the meet and greet I was able to show Tommy Shaw and the band the magazine with the painting. Tommy was very complimentary of the painting (he had actually already seen it as his REALTOR in CA had seen it on Facebook and sent him my post). Who would ever have thought last summer when I ordered my tickets to the show the STYX show that I would have the honor of having the painting selected for the OPA show AND that Art Collector Magazine would select that painting for part of the article. Painting brings joy in many ways and this time, it was shear joy for me!