You know what ‘white canvas’ syndrome is? When an artist struggles to start a painting because they are overwhelmed by a big blank white canvas. Writers call it ‘empty page’ syndrome.
I think I’ve just discovered Blank Blog syndrome.
Artists will try to overcome it by dirtying up the canvas, slapping on a layer of wash or making random marks and brush strokes to get things going. So let’s take this post as my first random mark making exercise to dirty things up a bit.
It’s a Tuesday morning in February. I’m sitting in bed writing this while outside the wind is howling and the rain is hammering against the windows. Tbh I’m wishing it wouldn’t hammer quite so much as the windows on our 200 year old cottage are dodgy to say the least. We moved here six months ago from our pretty, chocolate box village in rural NW Essex and, I’m going to be honest, I miss the double glazing.
What does my day hold? I want to finish off a textile piece I’m thinking of entering for an Open Call. As usual at this stage I can’t decide if it’s fantastic or a fantastic failure ( no half measures in my creative judgments, obviously). But I have become much better at not really worrying about that. Well, ok, most of the time.
Mainly my day will be about finding a cardboard box of the right strength and dimensions to pack up my latest exhibition piece in. Never have I spent so much time worrying about packaging. If I can’t get the box, I can’t post the piece and the deadline is tomorrow. The alternative is a six hour round trip to the gallery in Glasgow. An awful lot of the life of an artist is not actually about art at all.