What is the longest amount of time you have stared at a blank canvas before starting your project? I wish I could say I am asking for a friend, but I’m not. I essentially always have blank canvases in the house because I buy a few whenever I find them on sale. Because I have chosen to make jewelry or work on a line drawing with my art time for many months, I recently reorganized my supplies and put all my blank canvases on a shelf which is in front of my face more often… and now I can’t stop thinking about how long I have been thinking about my next projects rather than actually starting them.

I like to think that I am simply trying to come up with the best possible plan. I want to take my style and technique to the next level and make each piece more meaningful than the last. The longer I stare at this stack of blank canvases, the more I think it is time to admit that all this thinking isn’t getting me anywhere. It is time for doing.

I’m still not sure I’m quite ready to commit my ideas to canvas… so, I will start by trying new techniques in my sketchbook. To prevent myself from sitting around thinking about what style to try each day, I decided to put an artist name on each playing card in the deck so that I could shuffle and deal a choice instead.

Without really thinking about it, I shuffled the deck upon opening it, rather than just turning it over and starting to write names on the playing cards. As fate would have it, when I did set it down to begin, the first two cards had become the nine and ace of spades aka the two cards to speak to me years ago (before I knew anything about playing cards tarot). The nine of spades represents a clean slate (which is quite similar to a blank canvas). The ace of spades signifies the end and new beginning, a complete turnaround. It was the perfect way for the Universe to let me know that I am on the right path.