A Little White Lie at the Art Gallery

So here's this thing that happened recently. I'm an artist and I've been lucky enough to have my work featured in a local gallery for their summer exhibition. It was a big deal for me, really proud of it. So there was this one piece, a painting I did called 'Afternoon Shadows'. The curator loved it so much she put it front and center at the opening night. People were buzzing about it all evening. There's this guy who came by early in the night, I'll just call him Alex, because he runs that little coffee shop near my studio space. He always comes to art openings, chats up everyone there. I don't mind him usually, but on this particular night, I was feeling a bit extra about 'Afternoon Shadows' because it had been tricky getting the lighting right in the scene. Anyway, Alex comes over and starts chatting me up as he does. He gets to talking about my painting and how much he loved everything about it, how detailed and lifelike all the elements were. I was kind of embarrassed actually. The reason 'Afternoon Shadows' looked so vivid wasn't just because of hard work or natural talent, but because it was a digital painting that I had printed on canvas to look like an oil painting. That's one of those things you're supposed to keep secret in the art world. I thought about telling him the truth but I felt like I'd be admitting to a lack of skill if I did. So instead, I lied. I told Alex how many hours and nights it took me to finish this painting, making myself sound like an absolute workhorse. In my mind, I was trying to keep up appearances, maintaining the image of being solely traditional in my art. Looking back on it now, a week later with some perspective, I realize why I did it but still feel kind of silly and guilty about lying over something so small. What's worse is that Alex seemed impressed by me, which only makes me wonder how many other times I might have pretended to be better than I really am out of insecurity. I'm not sure what I should do now, apologize to him for my dishonesty or just move on? Either way, it’s making me rethink how much I value honesty and transparency in my artistic practice.