Your Canvas Awaits You

My friend Paul is with us for a few days. We were in the studio yesterday, editing a video of a handmade book Paul wrote and illustrated called, The Sacred Journey. Today Paul is at 151 painting, not the walls, but on the canvas above where the light has been resting. The painting will be hung at 151. His son-in-law Jeff is along and will be helping me as we work on the open canvas of the kitchen floor.

I made the frame for the canvas according to Paul’s instructions. I had Uncle Eli’s stretch the canvas on the frame and give it a few coats of gesso so it would be ready for Paul. I put together the easel. I used 2 X 4s and joined them together with a framing nailer. It is not really what you would call portable, but I managed to get it up the stairs. I like the way it holds the blank canvas. As the psalmist proclaimed, “This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Every day, the gift of an open surface. It rarely feels that way. It often seems as though the day holds little space, the day comes committed—given and full before our feet touch the floor in the morning.

I’ve enjoyed having this blank canvas at 151 these days. I’ve spent some time before it whenever I pass the room. I’ve needed what it invites.

It is a reminder of what the now holds,
How each moment opens,
Fresh and unspent,
The forward edge of our lives,
The frontier of our spirit,
A spread of possibility
Held open before us.

Love and Peace, Glenn