How do I choose what painting to create?

It is not always easy for me to choose and commit to paint a particular subject or theme. Sometimes I have so many ideas and desires, choosing something particular becomes stressful and overwhelming. Over time, I developed a strategy that helps me to organize this process.

I try to follow my soul and mood when I choose what painting to create. I avoid creating one theme several times in a row (like, only landscapes or only animals, etc.) and instead pick three different topics for my future paintings, for example, flowers, landscape, birds. Then I decide which particular flower I want to create, what kind of landscape I want to paint, what kind of bird I wish to make. After I choose this, then I think about more details, like, do I want to paint bouquet of flowers, flowers in the field, or just a single flower. I narrow down the options to a minimum until I have a complete image of this future painting in my head. Usually I work on three different paintings simultaneously, so I need to decide all of them before I begin the first one.

When I just can’t choose what to paint at all, I take time to look around and see what catches my eye, what excites my vision, what touches my heart in some way, what speaks to my soul. This searching might take time, but in the end, I enjoy the process of creating the painting much more.