I think one of my biggest issues, when it comes to art, is that blank page. Actually, it is not just the blank page, it is everything associated with getting started. You get the itch to draw, to make some art, perhaps splash a bit of paint about, but so many decisions...

journal, index card or paper ....

A3, A4 or A5....

portrait or landscape....

watercolour, acrylic, coloured pencils, pen, markers or something else? (I solved that one by opting for mixed media... clever, huh?)

Week 1 from Lifebook 2014 : My Inner Artist Guardian

Now, what to draw? And in what style... realistic, whimsical... something else...?

These questions explain why I have become an online art class junkie. When faced with these big 'what' questions: what shall I draw, what shall I draw with, what shall I draw on, my Inner Librarian starts cataloging all the possibilities. She is so intensely consumed by this and requires total silence to concentrate, so she is sternly hushing my Inner Child, who, impatiently, just wants to get on with it! So the obvious solution for both parties is to pack us off to art school. Well, to an online class. Then an instructor will answer all the 'what' questions and give the Inner Child permission to gleefully make art. And while this is happening, the Inner Librarian gets to collect and organise more information for her growing database. Win, win.

There does seem to be one potential drawback, however. One can't help wondering whether it will ever be possible to produce a painting or journal page without the prompt from an online teacher. I am having an enormous amount of fun in all these classes, but it remains an exercise in faith to continue with the classes and instructional books and trust that inspiration to produce something original and unguided will one day appear.