This plein air painting of my patio, surrounded by palms and lush garden, is a kind of celebration of home. I didn't go far to paint this, just opened the front door. And yet, the scene is full of such complexity that I feel I could paint it a hundred times and still see more. In fact, the act of painting makes us see more. One of the joys and sometimes frustration in painting plein air, is that intricacies and variations are endless, requiring the artist to limit what he or she chooses to include in a canvas. It is so easy to allow the painting to become overwhelmed by detail upon detail. Instead, experience teaches us to limit those details to what helps the composition and helps tell the story. Learning to simplify is a wonderful quest to pursue over time as we paint from life.