Resounding Jubilee

I had an art teacher in junior high that when a student holding up a blank piece of paper in front of him asked, "Where do I start this?", his was reply almost always was, "At the beginning." Sounds like advice from the caterpillar from "Alice in Wonderland", doesn't it? Maybe it was. Was my teacher smoking a hookah over there in the corner? Not that I could see, maybe it was under his desk? The window next to him was open a lot. All that being said, I started this piece at the beginning, it's own beginning. I have no idea how one is "supposed to" begin an art piece. Clearly no one ever taught me that in terms of "follow these steps and you will have a poignant piece of art", so I have no way forward except to begin. Perhaps that was entirely my art teacher's point. Get rid of the "suppose to" mindset and then you will have a piece of art that is unique from who you are. I think we are far beyond where art is a "supposed to be" anyways. Don't you think? This scribble is where this painting begins, with a real sense of not understanding the way forward, with a real lack of direction, except forward with bravery. - An excerpt from "On Painting: Resounding Jubilee".