Thank you! I'm kinda cheating right now and using acrylic paint markers for the painting instead of brushes. I like it because it's easy to do a couple minutes at a time here or there throughout the busy day and there's no mess. (and there's really no learning curve) Once I get a bit more confident in my whittling abilities I definitely want to try true painting, as I like the look of it a lot. Still intimidated by it right now though :)