​Why I Write Hidden Intentions on Every Canvas

​Before I touch a painting with color, I pick up a paint roller and write the intentions across the raw canvas.

​For example: “Let’s be friends. I love you.”

​These words will never be seen by anyone else. They disappear under layers of plaster, dirt, salt, and paint. Yet I do this every single time.

Why?

Because this small, private ritual sets the tone for the entire piece.

Ritual

It’s a deliberate act of kindness toward the work before it even begins. I’m choosing to meet the canvas with love instead of pressure or perfectionism. In a practice full of uncertainty, this is one moment I can fully control; and I choose gentleness.

Psychological

The hidden message becomes a quiet anchor. Even though it’s buried, I know it’s there. That knowledge softens my inner critic and reminds me that the painting and I are on the same team. It shifts me from “I have to get this right” to “Let's do this together.” Over time, this small shift has changed how I paint and how I feel about the work long after it’s finished.

Personal Mythology

For me, this has become part of my own creative mythology. My work is already about transformation, reclamation, and turning raw experience into something meaningful. Starting with a hidden declaration of friendship and love feels like the right beginning for that journey. It’s a small, consistent reminder that the process itself is sacred; not just the final result.

I don’t do this because science says words change water molecules. (The Hidden Messages in Water, Masaru Emoto)

I do it because it changes me.

The canvas and I begin as friends.
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Everything that follows grows from that quiet starting point.

Fine Art