My Painting Secret Isn't As Artistic As I Pretend It Is

So, I started painting last month. My friends were really excited for me because it's such a cool hobby, right? But here’s the thing: my paintings look like they’re covered in snot and mud rather than stars and flowers. At first, I was just not sharing them online or anything. Then one day, I found this app that lets you edit photos to make them look super professional. So now, whenever I take a picture of one of my paintings, I run it through the app before posting. It’s like magic, all those splotches turn into something almost resembling clouds and rainbows. Of course, I tell people these are raw photos of my art as if that’s common knowledge among artists (spoiler alert: it's not). So every time someone asks me how my painting is coming along, I feel this weird mix of anxiety and pride, because yeah, sure, I’m ‘painting’ but also...editing like mad. It sounds silly when I put it like this, but there’s something comforting about knowing people see the best version of my art, even if that means using technology to enhance reality. But then I stop to think, am I doing myself a disservice by not being honest? Are these paintings ever going to improve without me admitting where they stand now? So far, it feels like both a clever workaround and a way too big white lie. And maybe the worst part is that I’m not entirely sure which one it is.