These are two of the questions Orange curator and artist, Madeline Young pondered during the tail end of a creative block, which is set to release itself at the upcoming BLOOD exhibition.

"Most of my good ideas come after a significant creative block," The Corner Store Gallery owner, Madi Young said.

"Months, sometimes years, go by in frustration."

Collaborating artworks with her four-year-old son, Magnus Young-Holborow, initial thoughts for merging their masterpieces were said to be borne of the artist's own creative struggles.

"I had been wishing I could 'unlearn' everything I knew and loosen up my very controlled and rigid painting style," Ms Young said, "and Magnus is my tool for unlearning and loosening up.

"He creates work without inhibition, in complete naivety, and he got me thinking ... is creativity learned, or is it genetic - is it in the blood?"

While Ms Young said there's really no right or wrong answer, per se, she does think you've got to have "a few of the genes" in the first place when it comes to various codes of creativity.

She's also fairly confident that her son's art will dominate over her own in the sales department, which the artist feels more than content with.

"I am stoked about his work, but super embarrassed to put my own next to his - mine suck and his are awesome," Ms Young said through laughter

"So, I have no doubt his will sell out."

Ms Young also talked about antagonist views around the upcoming event, given abstract art's 'outside of the norm' style.

Though, she also feels at peace with any potential backlash - with the artist unpacking her thoughts on how those perceptions are measuring the merit of works, based on ill-informed opinions.

"I'm sure this exhibition will piss a lot of people off, too, because abstract art is quite intimidating for people who don't have an art education or background," Ms Young said.

"If people don't understand what something is, they get intimated and they don't like - they like reality, realism, making firm sense of things.

"A lot of my artists paint in a very abstract way and I've heard people come in and say 'oh my two-year-old could do that'.

"Well, now I'm actually bringing in my four-year-old's works - who was three at the time when he painted them - but you know what, it's my gallery and I'll do what I want.

"And I actually think the stuff that [Magnus has] made is beautiful - it's my favourite type of art to buy."

A lockdown project of sorts during the peak of the pandemic, Ms Young said she guided Magnus in the studio when it came to the "simple decisions" - like laying the canvas on the floor or rotating it 90 degrees, or asking what brushes they'll use.

Mostly, though, when it came to choosing colours and materials - it was all Magnus.

"I'm painting beautiful colours of the rainbow!" little Magnus said.

"Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and pink ... Red and white, makes pink!"

Capturing everything on video during content creation, Ms Young said her son would tell stories to himself while he painted, saying it was always fun being the bystander and listening to him.

"In one, he grabs a brush and he's stamping dots on the canvas and saying 'dinosaur footprints, dinosaur footprints'," she said.

"So, that's what we called those pieces - 'Dinosaur Footprints, one and two'."

While it's been a bit stressful balancing a shorter attention span, the artist said that working alongside her at times "shocking partner" - has truly also been one of the best collaborative processes for her to date.

"He doesn't like working on canvases that already have paint on them, so he wants a brand new clean canvas every time, or he'll scribble for five minutes and then he's done with it - so it's been pretty chaotic and messy," Ms Young said.

"But hey, most of the great artists are a bit 'eccentric', for lack of a better word, and he's a bit of a dude - he's got a lot of charisma and the whole process has just been super inspiring for me."

The upcoming August exhibition will also be used to mark the hub's eight-year milestone next month.

Its birthdays are always a pretty cool anniversary for the artist as well, with the same place housing some of the 90s' best treats.

"I grew up in Orange and I would buy lollies in the 1990s when the gallery used to be 'Thommo's Corner Store'," Ms Young said.

"I loved a good milk bottle, mixed lolly bags and those little teeth where you could get three for five cents back in the day. I didn't mind a box of Nerds or a good Push Pop, either."

The Corner Store Gallery's BLOOD exhibition will kick off on August 10 and be on display through to August 20.

A "very special" eighth birthday party will be held at the gallery on 382 Summer Street in Orange, on Saturday, August 13 from 3pm.

Local wine will be provided by Orange Cellars and all nibbles via Orange Grazing Co.

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