Making art requires curation.  

When you’re painting, by choosing a subject, you’re also choosing what NOT to paint.  If you’re painting a portrait, you’re not painting a landscape.  If you put a figure into a landscape, you’re not painting the figures that you don’t put into the landscape, or the other landscapes that may exist in the world.  

When you’re choosing what you want to spend your finite time on, you’re also choosing what not to spend your time on.  

Curation is a skill we can improve if we so desire.  The first step, then, is to notice it.