A Blank Canvas

In my last post, I grieved the loss (my exact words were putting it into a “medically-induced

coma”) of my work in progress.

I’m happy to report that the mourning period is over! I’m no longer wearing black. Currently,

I’m wearing a pink shirt that says something about “lake life”. Yes, mourning is officially over.

Now comes the excitement of a new project.

Please bear with me while I quote from my debut novel, Diamonds in Auschwitz. While working

on that project, I learned to see a new work in progress like a blank canvas. In Diamonds,

Hanna, the artist/main character, loves the color white. For her, it does not represent

innocence or purity. She’s a Jew living in Prague during World War II. It’s safe to say, innocence

marched out the door when Germans goose-stepped into her city.

She loves white because it shows the possibility of a new beginning. In a conversation with

Samual, she contradicts him when he laments that the people of Prague whitewashed over the

beautiful mosaics in Old Town Hall, essentially erasing centuries of Prague and Czech history.

Hanna sees it as hopeful. She is optimistic that when the war is over, her city can repaint the

mosaics with something better, more evolved, learned from their past experiences.

[Samual] sighed thinking about the mosaics on the first floor that had been white-

washed a few months ago. He knew it was to save them from the Nazis, but he was still

saddened by the thought, especially his favorites of Princess Libuse, who, according to

Czech folklore founded Prague after a vision of a city whose glory would touch the stars.

[…]

“Do you think we can sneak in and see the mosaics?”[Hanna asked.]

“The mosaics?” he said. “You must be joking. They’ve ruined them.”

Hanna shrugged.

“You haven’t been in there lately,” he said, breaking the sad news to her slowly.

“They painted over the mosaics months ago. No more mythical creatures. No more

Czech history.”

Hanna shrugged again. “I’ve seen it.”

“You’ve seen it? I know. I know. You’re going to say that the whitewash can be

removed some day, that they are protecting them.” Samual sighed.

“That’s not what I was going to say,” she said. Samual turned his stare from the

building to her. The sun was behind the city horizon, but he could still make out her face

clearly in the streetlamps. She looked intently at the old building, made up – so much like

the mosaics inside – of smaller and different houses until they created one, perfect

picture.

“I like white,” she said.

“You like the innocence of white?” he teased. “White swans? White paintings?”

She squeezed his hand again and cocked an eyebrow. “You know I’m not that

concerned with innocence.” She smiled at him with a sideways glance.

He laughed.

“White isn’t always about purity and innocence,” she continued. “Sometimes it’s

about the absence of anything else. There’s a difference between innocence and lacking

flaws. White can represent no sin, but also no heartbreak, no unhappiness, no…” She

looked up at him and laughed with embarrassment. “I’m rambling.”

“No,” he encouraged her, entranced.

“It’s just…” she started again. “It’s just that when I see white, I see a blank

canvas. I see a new beginning. I see a world where anything is possible. I loved the

mosaics. But that was the past. That was before everything that is happening now.

When they whitewashed them, I was relieved.” She sighed, her eyes still never leaving

the blank walls. “We can make our own new beginning now. We can become anything

we want to be. We can put up a new Czech history on those walls.”

While staring at the overwhelming task of finding a new project, I channeled my inner Hanna.

The blank page is not a sign of failure or backtracking. It’s the start of something new and fun

and exciting.

Where will this new adventure take me? To a haunted cathedral of Charleston during the early

nineteenth century? Across the sea to England during the Age of Enlightenment? Deep into the

rooms of the Constantinople harem during Ottoman Empire? Or onto the sandy and sunshiny

beaches of Hawaii as the country undergoes a swift transition from ancient to modern?

I have an idea of where the next journey is headed. You’ll have to stay tuned to find out what

my blank canvas becomes.