Sit quietly and don't add anything

"Red cardinal morning" available at the shop

I had struggled with this painting this past week. It started out with all sorts of things in it, like I had tried to combine a weeks' worth of visual stimulations into it. I liked it, but each day I changed the painting. I covered up the woman sitting on a rock, and the donkey in a shed. I covered up the woods in the background, and other details.

I came to this, and wondered what I needed to add to it.

Then I stopped, sat quietly, and realized this piece was just a beautiful moment that I had had that morning, a second that breezed by and my heart felt it, and I was able to recreate it in art without even thinking. If I think too much with paintings...things can get way too complicated.

It's tempting to 'add' things to more abstract pieces. A bird, a donkey....a barn with a rabbit...

But sometimes if I allow myself to be quiet, I don't need to add anything. I love this piece.