In this episode, we talk about that niggly voice in the back of our heads, our "inner critic”. It's the voice that questions everything we do and whether it’s good enough. As creatives, we can spend a lot of time on our own with only that one voice for company… and it’s really hard not to listen! We talk about our ways of dealing with that irritating inner critic.

We all see our inner critic as our enemy. What we need to try and do is make it work in our favour. That voice is only really there to protect us from being hurt. We have to try and use it to help us strive to produce better work, without letting it crush our confidence.

We also talk a little about Art Journal January and some of the art we’ve loved. As usual, we brutalise people's names as we try to pronounce them. Plus I (Tara) talk about my experience of taking part in the challenge and trying to overcome my inner critic. Sandra who had been in the Carribean for the first half of January mentions how she felt she was missing out by not taking part in the challenge. It was quite a hardship for her to lie by the pool in the sun and drink cocktails (PS. Can you tell Tara is writing these show notes!)

We also give a mention to our two upcoming challenges -
February Faces, an art challenge to create a face drawing (sculpture, collage, etc) every day of the month
February Fables, a challenge to write a children’s story during the month.

We will both be taking part in February Faces. We're also going to put a twist on February Fables by collaborating. I will write exactly 250 words, then Sandra will write 250 more until we have completed a story. Who know's what that will turn out like, but we're sure to mention it in an upcoming episode.

If you haven’t already, you can join our Facebook Group, where you will find like-minded creatives. Plus we have some free downloadable inspiration pdfs for the challenges. They are also available when you sign up for our newsletter.

We hope you enjoy the show.