What is your reality?

The Reality in my mind!

The Mood in my mind!

Happiness, for most of us, is a choice. Reality is not. It seems, though, that choosing to be happy ends up changing the reality that we keep track of. (Seth Godin - his newsletter on 1/27/15)

Your mood vs. your reality 

The first image above was the reality I saw when looking at my reference photo! I had changed many elements ... their actual location, or size, or more sand, less sand, more low foliage, etc. So I was already changing the "reality" of the photo. And it was not going in the direction I wanted. So, I put it aside for another day.

The second image was a few months later, when I revisited the unfinished painting... and tried using a new process and creating the mood I felt! I'll talk about the process in another blog post.

It is not exactly what I want, and still rather unfinished. But, it is going in a direction I "feel" rather than sticking too close to the reference photo. I will be sure to show the finished painting ... or at least a finished experiment ... when I get there. There are many little things that are not up to my standard in the composition and design of this piece, but I do believe they are still evolving.

So... I would say, I am choosing to change the reality of this scene to my own view of what I felt when at this location ... my own happiness!