What is your What If?

Amantha Tsaros, The Moon's Place, Acrylic on Canvas, 2011

I am prodded along daily by the words and work of Alyson B. Stanfield, Art Biz Coach. I am an avid reader of her blog and enthusiastic participant in her art-marketing classes.

She once offered her readers the question, "What if?" and asked what our "What Ifs" were.

I wondered, "What if I worked as hard for myself as I have for others?" The answer has come back to me that I would feel more fulfilled than I knew was possible and that I would also have to get up at 5:00 am to paint. It is so satisfying to work so hard for something so close to me.

What's your "what if"?

Hosta Takeover

Amantha Tsaros, Hosta Takeover,  16x12",  ©2011

Sometimes titles are hard to find. I have had to offer contests and prizes to get the right name for a painting. And for most of my new exhibit, Fickle Forecasts, I've turned to the Old  Farmer's Almanac for inspiration. I read the  Almanac looking for titles and descriptions that pertain to the individual paintings. A few times, I picked up the book without putting on my glasses and came up more with original names. What was printed as "fewer frills" became "Fever Frills".

Other paintings name themselves. The title of my new hosta painting just grew naturally out of of staring at hostas for so long. What else could I have name it?