coming to a blank canvas...

I’ve had a lot of opportunity whilst living in the dynamic city of bristol to see lots of artwork and street art cover the bland city walls of drab and sad areas. Where someone decided to cover up emptiness to create a moment to standout in the city and make people think.

I saw those blank empty spaces in the city and could only relate to think… ‘what would I paint for myself right now?’.

Finishing university was always going to be that gun start moment to adulthood where you’ve left from a very safe pathway of lectures and social life to nothing. How do you continue or where do you start from university?

If you take away the current climate (cough cough*) an empty canvas is probably the anxiety bubbling point to make. The fear to start something and already feel it was the wrong one, or to get deep into the idea and process and bail last minute. Commitment when there is so much choice and the options are endless yet also feel far away from actually something we (I) can achieve.

The blank canvas I stand in front.

Admittedly, I have never had a completely blank canvas to work with. And maybe nobody really does. We gain passions, skills, qualifications, hobbies that will guide us to what we believe is something that fits us with our goals for long term excitement. We pursue the things we feel will bring us a sense of fulfilment. I feel lucky that my canvas has had guidelines to lightly trace before I take plunges. So what if you have a blank canvas?

I think it’s allowing the space to find your own tools and paint brushes to use for your canvas, the metaphorical sense (of course). Be real with yourself. What is it that you want to paint? How does it feel to imagine going from idea to reality with the picture of that dream? It’s scary to really want something. To be honest with yourself to create a moment of vision of things we want in life. Worried we could be disappointed or we let ourselves down. But maybe thats a chance we should take more often. We never fear what we do, only the things we never try to do. Imagine bigger than now, it won’t look so huge once its start to gain clarity or a path.

Walking down the odd alley ways of Bristol I stumble across mesmerising canvases of art and it makes me stop to think ‘ my canvas can be just as bold, if I picked up the paint brush to start’. Looking at empty spaces of walls can feel daunting. However, when looking at most of the street art in Bristol, I believe that no piece is a disaster; the person had a vision, something we can all admire in people. The only judgement is ourselves of how the final piece may look like, and since we are the only ones to draw that out. No art work really looks that bad.