solo post - L
I could look at this new year like I'm looking at this blank canvas I need* to paint - with intimidation and somewhat with fear. It's paralyzing in a strange way. I just stare it not knowing where to begin, how to approach it, what to create - what will it become?
Van Gogh wrote on "facing a blank canvas" :
"Just slap anything on when you see a blank canvas staring you in the face like some imbecile. You don't know how paralyzing that is, that stare of a blank canvas is, which says to the painter, ‘You can't do a thing’. The canvas has an idiotic stare and mesmerizes some painters so much that they turn into idiots themselves. Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of `you can't' once and for all.”
(Letter to Theo van Gogh, October 1884)
OR I could choose to look at this new year AND this blank canvas and say " I CAN" - break the spell of "I can't, it won't work, it's no good." And go at it, like I said yesterday, with gusto - just throw some color on it and don't be afraid - just get it going.
Be daring and passionate in this new year - say "I can". May your new year be painted bright and cheerful (and all the other wonderful adjectives for bright - cloudless, promising, dazzling, vivid and strong, glowing and rich). Happy New Year all my friends.
*Procrastination got the best of me and the painting is due next week. I was invited to be a part of our community 20th anniversary gala/auction/fund-raiser and have to paint this 5 x 7 canvas as a part of the Gallery of the Stars - Mystery Artist Event. The mystery part is that the artist will sign the back of the canvas - leaving it a "mystery" as to who painted the canvas until the piece is purchased.
Van Gogh wrote on "facing a blank canvas" :
"Just slap anything on when you see a blank canvas staring you in the face like some imbecile. You don't know how paralyzing that is, that stare of a blank canvas is, which says to the painter, ‘You can't do a thing’. The canvas has an idiotic stare and mesmerizes some painters so much that they turn into idiots themselves. Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of `you can't' once and for all.”
(Letter to Theo van Gogh, October 1884)
OR I could choose to look at this new year AND this blank canvas and say " I CAN" - break the spell of "I can't, it won't work, it's no good." And go at it, like I said yesterday, with gusto - just throw some color on it and don't be afraid - just get it going.
Be daring and passionate in this new year - say "I can". May your new year be painted bright and cheerful (and all the other wonderful adjectives for bright - cloudless, promising, dazzling, vivid and strong, glowing and rich). Happy New Year all my friends.
*Procrastination got the best of me and the painting is due next week. I was invited to be a part of our community 20th anniversary gala/auction/fund-raiser and have to paint this 5 x 7 canvas as a part of the Gallery of the Stars - Mystery Artist Event. The mystery part is that the artist will sign the back of the canvas - leaving it a "mystery" as to who painted the canvas until the piece is purchased.
