how gardening is a lot like building an art career

I am a novice gardener. I have spent the last 10 years and two houses developing a garden, or garden style. Both my first house and my second house had little to no landscaping and decent sized city lots. As I was working in my garden over the weekend, it occurred to me that creating a garden is a lot like building an art career. 

For example, both take planning, based on what you have to work with. If you have a flat lot with lots of sun you will plant differently than a sloped lot all in shade. As an artist, if you have loads of talent with drawing characters and people you would focus your attention differently than if you are fantastic at landscapes. 

Over the past 10 years in my garden I have nurtured plants, moved them, pruned, divided, and flat out removed ones that were not fruitful or didn't belong. My art career has been very much the same process. I have experimented with styles and with disciplines, seeing which would bear fruit. Some styles were pruned, portfolios were divided, and paths were abandoned. 

I have planted many many seeds both in my garden and my career. Some never germinated while others flourished until I tired of them or they evolved into something else. All the plants in my garden require some attention. Either to help nudge them along, or to ensure that they have the nutrients they need to succeed. Career wise it tends to be the same. If I am not creating the art, I am promoting, marketing or working on how to bring about big bountiful blooms. 

As I look out at the clouds and the rain today, I know the weather is making my plants happy. Inside as I chip away at new works of art, fine tuning, adding, deleting and planning who to send them to, I can't help but long for the sunshine. Both for my garden, and my own state of mind.