When I first got my iPad, I downloaded Procreate. My daughter showed me the app, which seemed like a fabulous tool for creating art.

I experimented with the different brushes and their various attributes. I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of use and the quality of the results, which made each drawing a gorgeous work of art.

I tried different canvas sizes and different pixel dimensions. I even purchased some papers that provided textures replicating expensive watercolor papers.

I learned about effects, such as the gaussian blur and warp and liquify.

I dabbled in cartooning. At one point, I drew a little picture frame every day of a cartoonish me and a little spider who, like Charlotte, spun sage advice into her web.

I found a YouTuber I appreciated and learned so much from her videos. She covered basic drawing, shading, and color blending, which is easy to achieve with appropriate techniques.

This was the time of locking down and shutting out while staying home to ensure the safety of our pods and family. I discovered I could reach new communities through regular posts on Instagram. In fact, I met a very dear friend who lives in India through Instagram and our regular posts. (Hi Manisha! You’re the BEST!)

I often spent hours sitting beside my mother while she watched her favorite game shows and westerns, and I doodled and drew on my iPad. This was a way to make the best use of my time while keeping her company and catering to her needs.

Because I love making art, I decided to treat myself to a class at the University where I also teach. One of the benefits of being a senior adjunct is the ability to take one class a year for free.

A fellow adjunct professor once told me about a wonderful class she had taken called Drawing for Non-art majors. I believed that my skills might be more advanced, so I signed up for an illustration class. This class required participants to have completed prerequisite courses, which I obviously had not. I emailed the professor and explained my background and my interests. She granted me permission to enroll in the class.

The class met online two mornings a week for 2 1/2 hours, with most of the class time spent as a workshop for us to work independently from our homes, the instructor logging on from her home studio, too. She would share some elements each week and have us spend time doing the assignment in class. At the end of our independent sessions, we shared our screens and she offered her feedback and suggestions for improvement or edits.

The strange thing about taking classes in any genre of art is that it often negates an innate love of the craft.

I'm not sure exactly what aspect of this class did not resonate with me, but I felt the opposite of inspiration. Is there an opposite?

Recently, I looked back on some of the early drawings I made on my Procreate app. I remember a sense of discovery and elation when I figured out how to shade the side of the face and highlight the brow, nose, and cheek, bringing a flat drawing to life.

Today, I look back at some of these renderings, and I have no idea how I completed them. It's frustrating when a creator looks back at a product and has no idea how to begin again- to get back to that place of knowledge.

Many studies have looked at the devastating effects of students and young people losing ground over the summer when classes are suspended. While there is merit in time off and vacation, I am confident that if I had continued my daily drawing practice, some of those special techniques I had learned would not elude my skillset today but would have become second nature and part of my arsenal as an artist.

The innocuous assignments from my illustration class that seemed to sidetrack my progress could have had the opposite effect. I might have honed the methods and skills that would have made me more accomplished as an amateur artist.

A similar opposite effect occurred when I studied creative writing in a very expensive MFA program. At the end of two years, I did not feel I was a better writer; rather, I chose not to write.

Try this:

If you're tempted to put down money and enroll in a class, first ask yourself ‘What do you want to learn?’

The answer may need to be aligned with the course content.

What you may need is time and practice in independent study.

Watch one of the thousands of amazing YouTube videos to passively learn and not suffer the instructor's critique.

My illustration class focused on larger aspects of the vocation of illustration, not how to illustrate. But often, it’s impossible to know what you need until to dive in.

‘Know thyself, artist.’ And know your limitation, too.

But if you’re drawing, painting, writing, sewing, making pots and table, baking cakes, gardening, whatever, your number one motivation should be your own happiness.

Follow your bliss and you will find your way.

It all begins with an idea.