I'm learning how to paint. I started when I was about 30 and I'm now 41. I started with abstract colours, the kind of thing you might do as a kid. I mean, I started by doing it with my kids, and that was very enjoyable. I was OK at drawing already and I felt I could get a lot better with practice but I don't find the end result that compelling... I guess I like my colours.
To begin with I was really doing it as a way to get away from depression/anxiety. I found it was distracting enough. Now I do it for enjoyment. I like the process from start to finish. I don't rush, takes me a long time to produce a painting - a month for a small one, more for a large one, although I have done a portrait in a 2 hour sitting.
There's tons of learning material, just find someone you like on youtube. However, there's a a large part of it that you only learn by doing - colour theory and mixing, layering, tinting, those all require experimentation. Brush technique just takes time. Videos can help with tooling though, canvas prep is harder than it looks, and more worthwhile than you think... but it's also OK to not bother, I mean you're in control in the end.
I've got a few paintings now that I really like. I haven't put my stuff "out" there, or tried to put it in the local gallery, even though I think it's good enough to do so. Partly as I don't want the attention or don't want to have to try marketing myself, and also because if you put a piece up there you have to sell it.
I've thought of doing prints. I did one for my mother to buy https://fineartamerica.com/featured/crane-bird-jeremy-wells.... but it's probably not worth it for the money (not much), I didn't like the colour reproduction by those print sites, its pricey to do it with the local graphics company, and I mostly like to paint on large canvases now, which would require a photographer as they don't fit in a scanner, and that's a lot of money in one go to digitize.
I'll echo another thing others have commented - since doing this I really look at other art a lot more, think about how it was made, give it more appreciation. Or I'll be about in the world and will see something and think "that'll make a nice painting, how would I make that work?"
To begin with I was really doing it as a way to get away from depression/anxiety. I found it was distracting enough. Now I do it for enjoyment. I like the process from start to finish. I don't rush, takes me a long time to produce a painting - a month for a small one, more for a large one, although I have done a portrait in a 2 hour sitting.
There's tons of learning material, just find someone you like on youtube. However, there's a a large part of it that you only learn by doing - colour theory and mixing, layering, tinting, those all require experimentation. Brush technique just takes time. Videos can help with tooling though, canvas prep is harder than it looks, and more worthwhile than you think... but it's also OK to not bother, I mean you're in control in the end.
I've got a few paintings now that I really like. I haven't put my stuff "out" there, or tried to put it in the local gallery, even though I think it's good enough to do so. Partly as I don't want the attention or don't want to have to try marketing myself, and also because if you put a piece up there you have to sell it.
I've thought of doing prints. I did one for my mother to buy https://fineartamerica.com/featured/crane-bird-jeremy-wells.... but it's probably not worth it for the money (not much), I didn't like the colour reproduction by those print sites, its pricey to do it with the local graphics company, and I mostly like to paint on large canvases now, which would require a photographer as they don't fit in a scanner, and that's a lot of money in one go to digitize.
I'll echo another thing others have commented - since doing this I really look at other art a lot more, think about how it was made, give it more appreciation. Or I'll be about in the world and will see something and think "that'll make a nice painting, how would I make that work?"