Trying to put it together

This is the 14th Artist's Why calendar that I've made for my sister and it is, as always, an enormous undertaking.  I agonize over it for many hours before I finally feel satisfied that it is  right.  At this point I have 17 fine quotations focused on making art a priority every day, loving what you're doing, not being afraid to make mistakes, and throwing yourself and your passion into your work without doubting yourself.  I'll have to narrow the list down to 12, which will be difficult because I want to use them all!

So now I'm engaged in a search for the right paintings to go with the quotes.  I collect images in folders all year long  and have hundreds of old images - this is a page from my Landscapes file - but somehow I'm always looking for new ones up to the last minute.  Doing these calendars, and the smaller ones I tried unsuccessfully to sell years ago, I've learned a tremendous amount about art - artists, styles, media, subjects, techniques = and about what I like.  I've always tried to choose images that make use of techniques Lex is using at the time, which can be difficult.  Poor Lex - she sees me suffering and says, you don't have to do it.  But we both know that this is indeed something I have to do, both because it is a gift of love and because of the enormous satisfaction I get from finally having a creation of my own.

Wish me luck.