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To create a work of art from a blank sheet of paper or board is as close as we artists will ever come to God, but we must always be conscious of our subject matter selection while producing our art. How we choose our subject matter is extremely important in helping develop our artistic style and is key in developing a comprehensive body of work.

This comprehensive body of work is what we artists will be evaluated on and will ultimately determine our success or failure as an artist. Our body of work will be presented and evaluated by our buyers/collectors, exhibition jurist, galleries and museums staff, and publishers just to name a few. To say that we need a strong execution plan for how we approach subject matter and how we design a body of work is an understatement.

We have all seen professional artists who paint a very tight subject matter genre and many have been very successful in branding themselves. I would argue that subject matter recognition is not the same as style recognition, but a combination seems to be very successful and worthy of consideration in proper planning. Now that I have prefaced my story with the importance of subject matter and a comprehensive body of work, you must be asking yourself what the heck does this have to do with "America the Beautiful"? Everything my friends. Everything.

As a naïve nineteen year old Airman in the US Air Force, I returned to my permanent duty station in Texas from a temporary duty assignment over seas only to learn I would receive orders to report to a new base. As was the custom, base operations moved slowly and those names of airmen who had new orders were posted in the picture window of the operations center, so that you could stroll by and see if your orders were ready.

Finally my name appeared in the picture window and I went inside to retrieve my orders and learn where in the world was my new destination. That destination was listed as Ellsworth AFB, SD. I remember thinking that my orders had to be a misprint and there was no state in the United States with the abbreviation SD. Surely it must be SC for my home state of South Carolina.

That's what I mean by naïve'. After 2 weeks leave at home in South Carolina, I donned my short sleeve dress blue uniform and off to the airport. Air travel 50 years ago is not air travel of today. From Souix Falls, SD it was a puddle jumper across the South Dakota prairie in a DC-3. I was struck by the remoteness of the open prairie only to arrive in Rapid City, SD in a blinding October blizzard in my short sleeve dress blues uniform.  After chasing my hat down the aircraft parking apron, I rushed inside and broke out the winter wools from my duffle bag. Overnight the snow covered the 1-90 bridge outside my barracks and reached half way up my second story window.

An auspicious beginning in South Dakota to be sure, but I fell in love with Bad Lands National Park just 30 minutes away. Armed with my 35mm SLR camera and small travel set of watercolors, I made use of my free time and began my National Park journey. From my base in South Dakota, I traveled to the Black Hills and Devil's Tower close by, but my travel by motorcycle took me to Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks where I was truly inspired to paint these grand landscapes.

I wish I still had these early landscapes to document my journey, not that they were of stellar quality, but they were personal, as with most artwork. They may still be hanging in the barracks and hangers at Ellsworth AFB. Wherever they are, I hope someone is enjoying them.

My travels with the Air Force took me to National Parks I would never have seen otherwise. From Denali in Alaska to Zion, Arches, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and many others. After my time in the Air Force ended, I was already hooked on our National Parks and the Park's wide range of subject matter they offered. From grand landscapes, to the park inhabitants provided me with my genre of art, subject matter, and eventually my body of work. Our National Parks have provided me with a life long inspiration to create what I hope others will consider quality work and an opportunity to share the National Park's message of conservation and preservation.

Watercolor painting has been a life long passion for me. Not that I have garnered much fame or fortune from it, but in recent years I have been painting full time. My body of work has allowed me to compete with the best of the best, achieve several signature memberships, and appear in numerous national/international exhibitions.

Whatever your style or choice of subject matter, let it be where your passion resides. Your passion will help drive your success, but give yourself every advantage by planning where you want to go and how you will achieve success. Development of your artistic style and body of work will allow you a platform to launch your career as an artist. Be creative and fearless. Don't hesitate to stretch yourself. With every failure comes experience and a new opportunity for success.

My personal journey has been filled with mistakes and haphazard with the absence of much planning. It is with plenty of rearview perspective and a lot of luck I that offer my advice. If you would like to see more of my work or follow my newsletter blog, you can find my web page at Patrick Faile Fine Art .