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This piece really helped me get into painting. Prior to this, I would really only ever paint from reference images. As a result, I always found painting to be more tedious than drawing, where I was comfortable doodling and experimenting without references. But, with this painting, I just sat down and started experimenting. I quickly ended up with something very weird, but very interesting. The whole experience was a huge realization: instead of having an idea, finding a reference, and painting the idea as accurately as possible, I could now just start painting and let the ideas come to me. Instead of being beholden to an idea, I could pivot on the fly and change my mind dozens of times during the process. I felt like I could let my intuition into the painting process for the first time, which was so freeing to me. Overall, the process of creating this piece really opened my mind and made me fall in love with painting.