It isn't always easy. Mozart dashed off the overture to Don Giovanni the night before the premier performance. Beethoven, on the other hand, reworked the overture to Fidelio again and again, he left us with four versions. It isn't always easy. Gulley Jimson saw feet, big feet, small feet, pretty feet, gnarly feet, enough feet to fill a wall. He put everything he had into it. Finally, exhausted, he looked at his great mural from across the room, "Not the vision I had" he muttered to himself. It isn't always easy. I barely had to lift a finger to create Peaches and the Great Pot in my previous post. Now I needed a Herculean effort to create this painting. Originally set up to challenge the best of my students, it sat in the studio for weeks before I could find the time to paint it myself. The first day I painted well but the composition wasn't satisfying so I wiped it out. On day two the composition was better but otherwise I painted badly, so I wiped out again. A few days later I faced the still blank canvas. I finally got the painting started only to be knocked off track time and again. Deliver paintings here, a family illness there, teaching here and there. I soldiered on and some lovely passages began to appear, then a few more. Soon I was able to float over the still life and pass into the landscape. I worked hard, I fought for my vision. It isn't always easy...but it's always exciting.....