About seven years ago, I started learning how to paint as a hobby. I was pretty terrible. Everything looked flat, I did not have the right proportions, and my colors were totally off. My friends and colleagues suggested that I stop wasting my time on something I wasn’t good at. “Focus on your day job,” they said.
I kept at it—practicing, taking classes, finding the right teachers who could mentor and challenge me. Over five years, painting started to become intuitive, and lo and behold, I am now considered “good.” Today, the same friends say I was born with this talent. “You’re in the wrong profession,” one said recently. To read more from Rachel Wu, click here.