Hello, dear readers!
I apologize again for my absence. Yet again, my job has gotten the best of me, though things ae improving.
So anyway, at my Artist's Way meeting last night we were discussing a blank canvas.
One the ladies said a quote about blank canvases. It has been said that a blank canvas holds infinite possibilities. The moment you draw your first line, you are telling the canvas all the things it is not or cannot be.
I'm a writer, not a painter. So for me, I think of a blank page.
I have heard so many writers talk about the fear of a blank page.
I was never afraid of a blank page. They always excited me because I knew there was no limit to them. I was excited at all of the prospects that page could be.
Hearing that quote last night really put things in perspective for me. Never before had I thought that I was telling the page that this was what it wasn't or it couldn't be that because I was making it this instead.
Should I be afraid of the first stroke of my pen or the first key I type?
The optimist in me says no. I understand the fear that other writers and artists are talking about now. I think it is a good fear, a healthy fear. I think that all artists should approach a blank with this fear and with respect. But we need not be petrified. Rather, use that fear to choose our words or pictures carefully. To limit the canvas in the best way possible - by making the limits beautiful. Once a word is written or a line is drawn, it cannot be undone. So let us handle our craft with the utmost care and caution. Let us not be frivilous.
So now, my approach to any creative endeavor will be different. I have always taken my work seriously. Now I shall do so, but again with a new perspective.
I encourage artists of all types to share this perspective with me. I think it is the best way for each and everyone of us to create our very best.
And with that, I wish you happy reading! :)
