Life's Blank Canvas

Peter Kreet "Greek fishing boats Ithica"

Pencil sketch on paper $240

Nothing can be more intimidating than a large white canvas waiting to receive it's first mark.
The birth of anything has a similar sense of expectation and drama. After all life is a journey and it's start will always be a mix of joy and awareness of the hazards ahead. David Malouf once in a radio interview suggested that the successful novel started with the tack of getting your characters up onto their feet down what they do.

Paintingg is no different, personally I always play classical music in the background to focus the mind on the
task in hand. The music overrides secondary thoughts forces me to think about the shapes, colour and  texture felt in the music.Once the first commitment to a visual statement has been made the work starts to take on a life of it's own. My task is to to understand what the picture requires in order to bring it's full fruition, the realisation of my aims and hopes. This does not always happen of course and in many ways reminds me of Cavafy's inspiring poem Ithaca.

It saddens me that the study of classics has so declined in recent years and Homer's tale of Odysseus return Ithica is unknown to many of the younger generation. I shall indulge a little  here and record Cavafy's poem Ithica for those unfamilar with his poetery.

                                                    ITHICA
As you set out for Ithica
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonian, Cyclops,
angery Poseidon- don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keepyour thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonian, Cyclops, wild Poseidon
_ you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one
May there be many summer mornings when
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbours you're seeing for the first time
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go learning from scholars.

Keep Ithica always in your mind
Arriving there is what you're destined for
But don't hurry the journey at all
Better if it lasts for years,so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithica to make you rich.

Ithica gave you the beautiful journey
without her you would never have taken to the road.
But she has nothing more to give you now.If you find her poor,
Ithica has not defrauded you,
With all the great wisdom you have gained
With so much experience
You'll have understood by then what Ithica means.

                  C.P.Cavafy ( 20th cent. poet)