One road leads to another

My philosophy has centered around feeling like there are no real accidents, that everything happens for a reason, yada yada yada...Especially as I've matured and realized that there is indeed a path given. Recently I was contacted to do a large commission on a nautical watercolor for a large wall in a large home. 8'x8' more or less and quite an undertaking considering that the chart needed to be printed on canvas and stretched before the watercolor was painted over the print. It was a technical problem but one that I could figure out. However, the commission fell through- my clients changed their mind but the sample chart I purchased of the West Indies remained in my studio, looking at me forlornly. "Do something with me!" it said. And so, after weeks of thinking and marinating my ideas, the nautical chart featured on the home page came to be. But the point of the story is more that I enjoyed painting it so much. That weekend I was lost at sea in my home studio, honing my drawing skills, choosing colors, working with pastels (much of the chart is pastel pencil).  So thank you, lost commission, I had a wonderful time doing this chart. I have orders for it from two galleries and , one road DOES lead to another...............you just have to pay attention.