Welcome! Excellent words of wisdom!

I think there's something to be said for listening to your inner critic as well. But then, I've always been far more analytical than emotional.

I'm gonna have to disagree on almost everything.

I've been in Lahti Institute of Design for four years and I've learned TONS of stuff about art. Creativity exists in all of us when we are little kids. The environment (school etc.) does a very good job on suffocating it. (There are studies of this). You can however nurture your creativity, feed it, use tools like mind maps and moodboards to learn how to use it and to make it flow. (You could also take the chemical path, but let's not go there, ok? LSD is bad for you!)

You can also study art. You can study the theory about techniques and color etc. You can also train your hand to move with your thoughts. Knowing what made a great master's work so dynamic helps you create the same effect. You can't follow your inner guidance if your inner self is lost. Artist like Picasso and Salvador Dali were incredible painters. They could do flawless portraits if they wanted to. They listened to their inner guidance and chose an other path, but only after studying and learning the basics and more.

Atleast in our school the art teacher, Mika Heinonen, was teaching us the theory and also made us open our eyes and see the world in a new way. He also very much supported us to feel and listen to our selves. We also had great critique-lessons, which taught us very much, about our own work, how others see it, and how we feel other peoples works.

Amen. That's universal and concerns everything. Thank you.