About being a renaissance person:

So, I recently found out that Rembrandt, Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci were all left handed, like me. :-)  I am taking a portrait painting class with Fred Miller here in town and even though I paint pretty well in comparison to the other students in my class, I feel like a wretched beginner when I compare my abilities to those of the great masters (or even modern professional artists).  I copied the Girl with the Pearl Earring a couple weeks ago and even the copy, which pales next to the original, is amazing compared with my amateurish portraits.  So, next I think about how old I am now, compared to the age of these masters when they painted their amazing paintings.   How did they get so good so young?  Did they devote their time to art from a very young age?  Did they have great teachers?  I suspect both.  But I am also a renaissance "man" like DaVinci.  I teach science, I make primitive tools and fires, I am a botanist, I design and sew costumes, and more.  But I am not a master at any of those things, more like a Jill-of-all-Trades.  Today I wonder where life will take me next.