The birth of a painting

You hear about painters block.  While I didn't have a total block on this painting I did have a struggle with choosing the subject.  I picked the frame and painted the background and border in colors that I thought would complement the frame.  When I was ready to do the painting I studied it for awhile and when I couldn't "see" anything in the canvas I decided to draw a something new.  It took me two hours to draw the sketch that you see above.  I would draw then erase then draw again and erase again until I came up with something that I was happy with.  The next day when I was ready to transfer the pattern on to the canvas.  I suddenly "saw" something else in the stippled background.  If you look close at the top photo maybe you will see it too.  What I saw was a pair of cowboy boots.  I put aside my first sketch and started drawing again.  I have a pattern of boots that I have done before and got that out to look at but decided it needed something more.  That something was the hat. It took me around an hour working on the new drawing.  So, I  had three hours invested in just deciding what to paint.  Once I started the painting I did it non stop which took three more hours.  The painting was the easy part... the decision of what to paint is where all the labor in the birth process came into play.  I am happy with the final results and think the subject fits the frame better then the pots, plants and pomegranates sketch. I already picked a frame and have the background ready for that painting and as soon as I post this I will get to work on it.  I am glad that I don't go though this with most of my paintings.  Usually something pops into my head whether it be a redo of old subject matter or something new and different and I don't have to go though this long drawn out process to produce a new painting.