the famous blank canvas

The famous blank canvas

All right everybody lets gather around; just give me a minute and we will all start from scratch.

Okay for today’s exercises just follow me and do what I do; take your blank canvas and set them up on your boards.

There we are; now are we all set to begin? Pencils and brushes with all the paint that you might need?

Today’s exercise is one of creation, yes that’s right everybody; you must choose your own subject.

Anything at all; yes the canvas is yours; take this blank peace of medium and create something of you…

Well, well, what’s this? Why all the quizzical looks; don’t tell me I asked for something that none of you can do?

Then let me give you a hint, is that what you desire from me? Well then your picture would hardly say anything at all about you or your pasts.

Have we failed as teachers or parents to supply you with the desire to think or dream? Are your thoughts so programmed you always need to be told what to see, feel, or experience?

After all a picture or story, yes even a poem, they are nothing but thoughts that have grown into being.

Let me ask you to look at your canvas and think; close your eyes if you will and tell me what do you see or feel at this moment?

Oh dear; oh my; just what have I done; it seems I’ve asked for something that just can’t be done.

Okay then eyes open; everyone look at me; I’ll try to explain; the process of creating something from a dream.

I usually start by closing my eyes; next take a few deep breathes; then I relax my mind and let pleasant scenes from my past come back to me as if in a dream.

These can be anything, yes anything at all; seaside verandas or mountain lakes; you need to let your mind create a pleasant scene; one that brings a once used smile back from your heart and into your mind.

Remember that a pleasant memory makes it easier to create or recreate a scene. After all I am trying to get you to share some of you with these remembrances from your past.

When you open your eyes see your scene on your canvas; but, remember all of the colors and paint what you remember or what you have seen.

If it’s a mountain lake, don’t forget the beauty of tall trees and their vibrant greens; the rocks and the flowers, try to recapture the mixture of color and shadows caused by a sun that sat so high in the sky.

Were there great clouds of soft white like spun cotton candy that just floated in the sky.

What about the water of this great mountain lake? How many shades of blue; were they?
Soft at the shoreline and cooler or darker near the center of your lake?

Did you view this scene from a porch of graying wood showing its age? Or were you sitting on grass of soft greens mixed with pale yellows?

These are the things that I ask you to see; because the purpose of this exercise is to learn how to create.

Make something from nothing or use a thought or a dream; here lays the power of a mind; a mind that is open and feels the freedom to create.

Behold the tremendous power when a mind becomes unlocked, marvel at the potential and the ability to perceive the world and people that surrounds us.

Now, you can understand that the heavens can belong to those that let themselves soar.

Bear