Some time after Id retired, my ex gave me for my birthday a watercolor set. No, I had not worked with watercolors since high school, so the first thing I did was complete a practice piece, which is the view from my bedroom window. It's not terrible, by any means, but it wouldn't set the world on fire.
It gave me enough confidence to tackle something more challenging, so I rendered a portrait of my childhood summer home in New Hampshire.
Again, nothing earthshaking, but at least decent. However, while rendering it, I discovered that painting, especially detail work, was very hard on my eyes, and I'd develop some nasty eyestrain headaches. So I had to put the paintbrush down for good, with regrets, and return to caricatures.