A Blank Canvas

There was a time my life was turned upside down. I dealt with it through the usual means. Wine, friends and a fresh coat of white paint to wash away the gunk.

Oh, and I relocated.

Fast forward to 2023. After 3 long years of pandemonium I was struggling. Many of us were/are struggling. Anxiety or whatever the hell it was had taken up residence inside and let it be known daily that there were important and pressing matters to deal with. Everything needed a response or reaction as fast as possible. Social media didn’t help. In fact I am a firm believer it perpetuates much of what is wrong with our mental health these days. But I digress…

Posting to post. Posting to satisfy the algorithm. Posting to share. Post Post Post. I mean I want to make this art career a reality right? “your viewer count is down 72% this week. Try posting a new reel to increase views”. It became a no win situation. It became a chore. Setting up to paint, then setting up to document the painting, then not being satisfied and reshooting, or worse quitting.

I quit many times and threw some great ideas on the growing pile of discarded 16x20 canvases. It became frustrating. I wanted to paint but the “content” idea kept popping up and I wouldn’t even bother setting up the easel . How could I compete with all those professional artists out there. Marketing and selling all their art. The fact that many are not selling ‘all’ their art did not matter. They made it look so easy. The “socials” (Meta and TikTok) turned it into a chore. Something I NEEDED to do to be an artist in 2023. So my poor lonely easel just sat, collecting dust in a dark corner of my skybox.

🤔 Dark corner

That was it. I was in that dark corner just like my easel.

I couldn’t move (have you seen rents in Toronto? 😳) I was feeling like I was stuck. That dark corner needed some light.

I painted it white.

I needed the giant blank canvas to show me a new path to take with my art. I needed to change my “brand”.

So it begins……

Stay tuned for updates

What is this art thing all about anyway?

Thank God for AI.

Will I live to regret this statement? Probably…. but seriously I could sit here all day staring at a Google search on how to write an artist bio.

First person? Third person? Is there even a second person?

You see I am a critical care nurse. I haven't written anything other than assessments, interventions and evaluations in over two decades. When I realized AI could formulate a statement in one paragraph that encompassed everything I wanted to say I had to try it. If left to my own devices I would take five paragraphs with a few forays into something related and back around to the bio. You can see why this would not be conducive to the quick info gathering we have become accustomed to.

Long story short…..

As a child I loved to draw horses. As teen in high school I considered applying to a school in Toronto for interior design. As a 20 something I worked in nightclubs, lived in different cities, went to nursing school and completely forgot about art.

Two decades later something pulled me back.

And here we are…

One of many studio “organizing” days.