Building a Serious Painting Practice With a Full-Time Job with Aida Smith (Ep.122)
Learn to Paint Podcast
Rethinking failure: the gumball machine
Aida reframes failure as a gumball machine metaphor and explains embracing many imperfect works to find successes.
Welcome to the conversation with Aida Smith!
Learn more about Aida Smith:
Many artists assume that building serious skills requires huge blocks of free time.
Aida Smith proves otherwise.
With a full-time career, a long commute, and a firmly established professional identity outside the art world, she has built a meaningful and increasingly confident painting practice over the past five years.
In this conversation, we talk about what it really takes to grow as a painter while working full-time, the color mixing breakthrough that changed everything for her, and how rethinking failure allowed her to keep showing up.
If you’ve ever said, “I just don’t have enough time,” this episode will challenge that belief in a practical way.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- How Smith structured her painting practice around a full-time job
- Why commute time and lunch breaks can meaningfully build skill
- The color mixing shift that transformed her confidence
- A simple way to adjust color using red, yellow, or blue
- How to think about failure in a way that keeps you showing up
- Why simplifying shapes strengthens a painting
- How she decides whether to keep a painting or wipe it down
- Why she paints with solvent-free oils and questions traditional rules
Building Skill in Real Life
Smith did not grow up identifying as an artist. Painting was not her childhood identity.
Her entry point was photography. Painting returned later, first as a stress reliever during a demanding job, and eventually as something she chose to take seriously.
She paints and draws at night. On weekends. During commutes. During lunch breaks.
And she is clear about something many artists resist hearing:
Skill takes longer than you hope.
Growth happened over years of sketchbooks. Years of mixing colors poorly before it clicked. Years of showing up even when the work felt frustrating.
This is not a story about finding more time. It is about using the time that already exists.
Extended Cut Bonus [Patreon]
In this bonus episode, Smith explains how shifting to a very limited palette transformed her color mixing and brought instant harmony to her work. She shares the exact colors she relies on, why she prioritizes value over perfect color matches, and how a simple “mother color” keeps everything cohesive.
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Doors are open for the next round of the 20for20 Art Challenge.
This is a structured 20-day challenge where you spend 20 minutes a day painting or drawing. We begin with Prep Week to help you choose a project, set up materials, and make a realistic plan so you can follow through.
If you’ve been struggling to stay consistent with your art, this is a great place to start.
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