Someone once said that if you scratch an abstract painting, a landscape lies just beneath the surface. Not a literal landscape obviously, but a landscape of the mind. I believe the job of any good painter is to notice the world around them - to pay close attention, to glimpse... and then give expression to those feelings and observations.
The act of painting is the act of discovery.
It is adventurous.
It is arduous.
Ultimately the joy is in the doing.
The making of the thing.
The work itself.