Facing a blank canvas can be a daunting and exciting prospect. How to summon the creative spirits to inspire the means to express a thought, feeling, or vision is truly an artist’s privilege and deepest dread.

I began painting seriously at the age of 15, and while I might not have been able to put it into words at the time, I can now. For me, the act of painting on canvas, or drawing on paper is meditative. Sometimes I am dead clear on my aim and other times I give into a vague idea and allow the work to build on itself. Patient I am not, but layering – happily – is one of my favorite techniques, and coloring outside of the lines without exactitude is an absolute blast.

At University, I discovered life drawing and anatomy, which guided my understanding of movement, lines, and composition.  Through my meager studies in mathematics, specifically geometry (the only thing I did understand in this field), I learned about shapes in space. I saw a future in architecture, and pleaded my case to parents, hoping my academic aspirations would be paid in full. Needless to say, I floundered when pressed to answer how I might deal with the engineering aspect of my chosen field…and that is how I got into media and entertainment.

And so back to that blank canvas…in my desk drawer is a Celtic blessing I often turn to; have a read of this lovely excerpt from John O’Donahue’s poem,

“For the Artist at the Start of the Day.”

“May this be a morning of innocent beginning,
When the gift within you slips clear
Of the sticky web of the personal
With its hurt and hauntings,
And fixed fortress corners,

A morning when you become a pure vessel
For what wants to ascend from silence,

May your imagination know
The grace of perfect danger,

To reach beyond limitation
And the wheel of repetition,

Deep into the call of all
The unfinished and unsolved

Until the veil of the unknown yields
And something original begins
To stir toward your senses
And grow stronger in your heart…”

…breathe, and begin again.

Sujac Studios – Enjoy the view!