I want to be an "Artist"!

This is my most recent creation. It was completed last week yet remains untitled and not dated.  I am choosing to call it a creation rather than a painting.  The word "creation" leans more towards what goes into "The Process" to come up with a completed project.  "So You Wanna Be an Artist" has opened my eyes to so much more that goes into being an "Artist" than I ever thought. I still want to be an "Artist" but I now know I do not want to be a "Professional Artist" nor a "Working Artist".  I don't want to be a "So You Wanna Be" either.  My goal is to be an "Artist" which is a place I believe I can get to.  

On May 29, 2023 I hiked to Bertha Lake in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada and stopped at this lookout point along the way.  That is Upper Waterton Lake below and the mountains of Glacier National Park in Montana, USA are the grey ones in the middle.  

I used two of my photographs from that day as references.  This being the first.....

 ....and this the second photograph.

This is my track from that hike.  

The orange star marks the location where I stood at the lookout spot.

The first thing I did was sketch then paint the view without me in it.  In hindsight, there are things I like in this version more so than in my completed creation.  I wondered now how do I replicate this with me stuck in the middle.  

I let the above version sit there for a while and I kept coming back to it.  

I made notes on how to improve it.

Next came sketching a rough outline in my practice book.  

It was time to get down to business and go for it! A couple of days later, I declared it a completed creation.     While going through "The Process", I may have entered into the "flow state" although I am not totally sure.  I wonder when you are in it, is it recognizable!  

I have a goal in mind right now and that is to create a piece that can be used as the front page or cover of something, I am not sure what that something is yet.  I want that front page or cover to be a back view of me doing something somewhere that brings joy and makes my heart sing.  When looking back at some of my coloured pencil drawings and watercolour paintings that contain that thought, I see a theme.

I see orange, mountains, being sporty and I see all seasons.  I am not sure though if I see an original style that would be recognizable! While I do have this goal of creating a front page or cover, I do not have a time frame set on when to reach it.  This is a work in progress as I continue to find my way to becoming an "Artist"!