I WENT TO MELBOURNE 
The first thing I saw was the sheer magnitude of the place.
The second thing I saw was how so many small things make up this huge city. 

I HAD MY SKETCHBOOK WITH ME
In my little cross-body bag my phone, purse, sketchbook and travel palette. There wasn’t room for anything else, apart from a couple of pens and a small brush.  The sketchbook was a travel journal, a time spender and a seeing strategy. I painted and drew what I saw, but it was the day out painting with the legendary artist, Rob Candy, that I realised that it is just by chance that I have become a painter of shearing sheds. 

One day we went to the famous Blunt’s boathouse in Williamstown, to sped the day painting. 

“BUT WHY? I AM A PAINTER OF SHEARING SHEDS” I HEAR YOUR SAY.
I could have decided that my career path was cemented to the shearing shed ideal, and that with no shearing sheds within cooee of Melbourne I’d go shopping instead.
I could have pre-judged the opportunity to try something new, and read my book instead. 
I could have rejected, sigh unseen, one of the treasures of this city, and I would never have known what I’d almost missed. 

As soon as I walked in through that small door set into the large double doors just off the main street, I started smiling. I could see through the history laden shed to the slipway, its boats, and the skybright bay beyond. Too much to see in one glance – but I would give it my level best. 
I don’t think I stopped smiling all day. It was as much the unexpectedness of the experience as it was the subjects in front of me. 

MY ADVICE TO YOU
This is why I have this advice to you today. Not because I’ve crossed over to the nautical side. I’m not going to  concentrate on 100 year old wooden boats now, though if any cross by bow I’ll take a closer look.  It’s because the joy of that day has added to my overall artistic joy. It’s fed into the way I make any art. 

PAINT WHAT’S IN FRONT OF YOU isn’t about chucking out any historical babies out with the creative bathwater. It’s about living in the moment of THIS muse, not the one your accountant probably would prefer. It’s not about stopping the sensible part of your practice, nor having a rabbit-attack and darting off, pell mell, in another random direction. 

IT’SGOOD FOR YOU AND IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR PRACTICE
Painting what’s in front of you today, even if it’s not what you would normally paint, will help you be a better painter of things you do put in front of yourself. 
There’s time enough for the considered structure of a well planned practice. But if you get a chance take it .