"Let Your Mind Rest" (fine art print from the "Maxims" series)

"Let Your Mind Rest" (fine art print from the "Maxims" series)ABOUT THIS LISTING This is an unframed archival fine art print on Moab's Natural Rag paper. The print measures roughly 8x10 inches and comes with a printed and signed certificate of authenticity. (Please note that only the first listing photo shows the print. The other photos show the original watercolor painting and embellished gouache mat. The print is derived from a high resolution scan of the painting shown in the listing photos, including the

ABOUT THIS LISTING
This is an unframed archival fine art print on Moab's Natural Rag paper. The print measures roughly 8x10 inches and comes with a printed and signed certificate of authenticity. 

(Please note that only the first listing photo shows the print. The other photos show the original watercolor painting and embellished gouache mat. The print is derived from a high-resolution scan of the painting shown in the listing photos, including the border design on the mat.)

This piece is one of ten intricate watercolor paintings Bryana created in 2025 for a series of illustrated proverbs called "Maxims." This series was created as part of the Tales From The Mandalina Tree, and exists thanks to the support of Bryana's subscribers over on Patreon.

ABOUT THIS PAINTING
An element of my life I often find particularly challenging to explain to others is the ruthlessness with which I have learned through great trial and error to safeguard my blank space. It’s an old struggle that crops up in the correspondence of virtually all the artists and writers I admire: that yawning need for empty time and the constant difficulty of securing it. The thing is, boredom and unallotted time are, so to speak, the soil that nurtures creative work. Put another way, they are the clear valleys and quiet trails through which I think the mind must range and wander in order to free itself from clamor and do its best work. 

But blank space is rare and very expensive. Some people genuinely cannot afford it in any meaningful way. I have the good fortune to be able to afford it, but the cost is still sometimes significant enough to be frightening. Securing empty time means declining many social opportunities, keeping a smaller circle of friends, living on lesser wages, and spending a lot of time alone. It means often saying no at the risk of annoying people whose good regard is considered valuable. It means always being aware of the hourglass running out. 

In this fourth painting in the “Maxims” series, I wanted to capture the simultaneous goodness and reckless weirdness of giving ourselves blank space. My character in this piece has disconnected his head from the work of sustaining his body, and holds it out for a period of perfect repose, watered by raindrops and surrounded by rolling green hills and herds of grazing sheep—a scene inspired by one of my favorite childhood locations: the chilly wet green of Wales. 

To illustrate the way useful and creative work takes root in the soil of blank space, I chose one of my favorite flowers—the feathery and flaming celosia. In my painting, these flowers sprout from the mind at rest and generate a soft glow in the dusk, just as science, craft, music, painting, storytelling, and every other focused and thoughtful work of the human mind casts a halo of light that slightly brightens the world.

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© 2026 Bryana Joy
The artist retains all copyrights.