Lessons Learned on the Canvas

I recently decided to take up painting again. I haven’t painted since college, and I’m not great at it, nor do I have any formal training, but I enjoy it. Painting is good for us type A people. It forces us to let go of our perfectionism and tap into our right brain.

Another thing that I’ve realized about painting is that it teaches you to be present. As you paint, each stroke completely changes the canvas. A new stroke covers up what was there, changing the picture and erasing (to the eye) what was underneath. Sometimes as I’m painting I find myself wishing that I hadn’t created the last stroke. I think to myself, “it looked so much better before, why did you have to go and ruin it?” But, I can’t change it. I can’t go back, I can only move forward. My next stroke of the brush will create something new. It will change the picture again. And I can keep painting until I like what I see.

In noticing this feature of painting, I began thinking about its application to life. There are times in life when we wish we could go back, we wish we could erase what we’ve just done. We want to return our canvas to the state it was in before our last stroke (or last few strokes). We look at our lives and think it was much better, much nicer, much prettier, and wish we could take our “mistakes” back. But, painting doesn’t work that way and neither does life. You can’t erase what you’ve done, but you can keep painting. You can keep moving forward. Your painting doesn’t have to be done until you decide it is. Likewise, your life can keep changing, you can keep evolving, and your canvas can keep adding layers. You may not like the way your canvas looks today, but don’t give up on it. Pick up your paintbrush and keep painting. Your mistakes don’t have to be the end. Make something of them and create yourself a beautiful masterpiece.