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February 23, 2026

My rookie era: I wasn’t immediately good at oil painting, but it taught me to find pleasure in struggle

One week I spent three miserable hours trying to paint a satin ribbon, and went home in a filthy mood

My rookie era: I wasn’t immediately good at oil painting, but it taught me to find pleasure in struggle

TL;DR

  • The author's childhood love for art was influenced by a picture book about Vincent van Gogh, featuring him as a teddy bear.
  • Fear of judgment and the perceived high expectations of artistic talent led the author to abandon painting in high school.
  • Returning to art as an adult, the author enrolled in an oil painting class to learn the craft and embrace the possibility of being bad at it.
  • The class focused on fundamentals like color theory, composition, drawing, and paint mixing, with emphasis on accurate palette mixing.
  • The author learned to find pleasure in the struggle of learning, accepting that initial attempts might not be perfect but that learning and improvement would follow.
  • Completing the 12-week course provided the author with the confidence to paint independently and display her work without self-consciousness.

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