Failed Bob Ross Tutorial?

I have been in quarantine since March 10th. Most of this time had been spent doing school work. But my school ended June 5th. So, for the past week I've had nothing to occupy my time. I started painting back during my freshman year, but I only did it on occasion. Now that I have all this time to myself, I got really into painting. And when I say 'really into', I mean really into. This past week alone, I've painted 12 cards and three small canvases. For someone who doesn't paint often, it's a lot. And I've been getting very experimental with my painting. For example, I took a picture of me and two friends and printed it out. I drew out a grid on the picture and then drew the same grid on the smaller canvas. I drew out the picture and painted the photo on the canvas. It came out really well for someone who can't draw people to save her life. So yeah, I've been on the painting grind. I've let my creativity control my quarantine. And I've really enjoyed it. Painting is really soothing. I'd plug in my music and just focus on the art for 2-ish hours. But there's a painting rite-of-passage that I have yet to face. A Bob Ross tutorial. Bob Ross is an icon. He's a name everyone's heard of, and rightfully so. He's not only an incredible painter, but also an incredible person. I was very excited to do a Bob Ross painting. I chose to do the secluded bridge painting, if anyone's interested in trying it out as well. I got all of my supplies ready. I filled up the plastic cup I've been using during quarantine. I pulled out the paint set that needs a new white paint. I set out all of my brushes. I plugged in my headphones and prepared for a peaceful time painting happy trees. That's not what happened. I didn't have the exact same colors as he did, but it didn't matter. I was able to mix the colors I had to come up with very similar colors. No, the problems came with the brushes. You see, he has professional, fancy brushes. I have good, working brushes, but they are not of the same caliber. I thought this would be fine and it would all work out, but the moment I started to paint the happy trees, I just couldn't get it. The shapes my brushes made wouldn't match to what he was able to do. Compared to his happy little trees, my trees just looked sad. The bushes became blobs. The rocks/ground was just there. The bridge was crooked and not straight at all. At least the water looked good. All in all, it looks nothing like the Bob Ross painting. I was almost embarrassed to show it off. That's when my parents walked in and started telling me what an amazing job I had done. Well, they're biased and tell me everything I paint comes out great. Still, they sounded genuine and I decided I was being a little hard on myself. My painting looks nothing like Bob Ross's painting. But that doesn't mean it's bad. For someone with different brushes and far less experience, it came out pretty neat. It's not my best work, but it's good. I think if Bob Ross were to see my painting, he'd be proud of my happy little world. So yeah, I'm proud of it. My painting is good, as long as I don't compare it to Bob Ross. I guess you could apply that to everything, really. Comparing one thing to another will always make something look inferior, even if we're not trying to make anything look bad. Next time you look at something you did and find yourself hating it, check yourself. Do you genuinely think it's bad, or does it just look bad compared to something else? More often than not, I find myself deciding the latter. In the end, I can't say I failed a Bob Ross tutorial. I not only passed, but succeeded. I don't think it's possible to fail a Bob Ross tutorial. It may not look like Ross's world, but it's not Ross's world. It's your world and it's not going to look like the original and that's okay. It's still going to turn out great.