This is my first post and first day using inkscape. Why is there always a blank rectangle in the middle of the canvas when i start inkscape? Is this a default setting i need to turn off. Im just trying to figure why its there. Any help would be appreciated thanks.

That's the page border. Whatever you draw inside of that rectangle shows in an image viewer or when the image is uploaded to host or website, and everything outside of it won't show up. So that's the reason it's there. But the border itself does NOT show up, either in any image viewer or after uploading. It's really just a guide.

But good news, you can turn it off! Please go to File menu > Document Properties > Page tab > Border (at the bottom). Uncheck 'Show page border' and "Show border shadow".

Since you prefer a blank canvas to work on, you'll want to know about this -- on that same tab in Doc Props, you'll see a bar with 'Fit page to selection'. After you finish your work, Select your entire image (or use Edit menu > Select All in All Layers). Then click that bar. This will put your entire image inside the page border, without actually having the border displayed.

Please see the links in my signature for some excellent instructional materials.

Thanks for the help!