Artistic skill一the ability to draw well and make paint behave一is not a natural endowment like big blue eyes or great legs. Nor is it a special knack you simply have or do not have, like a "green thumb," a "natural sense of rhythm," or "surgeon's hands." (Those things are nonsense too.) Neither does it matter whether your parents, grandparents, or any of
your ancestors were artists-except insofar as they may have motivated you, taught you, or served as role models. You can learn the skills required for painting in the same way that you can learn anything else you are strongly drawn to. I don't mean to understate the difficulties, however. The great painters devoted their lives to their art, often to the point of total obsession. Serious painting is not something that can be learned casually. You must be willing to sacrifice many other things.