What's under there is your personal, private history, and the story of your painting life. Gather up all those scrapes and cover-ups -- your improvisations in emergencies -- and you've earned the ability to recognize when your brush is sparkling. Go for excellence, knowing perfectionism is a canyon of toil. Enjoy the therapeutic satisfaction in fixing a dog -- it's like darning an heirloom sock. By then you're the editor, the re-writer, the restorer and the conservationist. There's imagination in that, too. "I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart." (Vincent van Gogh)
