AIBU for being so proud of dd achieving this at 17?

[FriendlyLaundryMonster]

Dd has one of her artworks on exhibit at the Royal Scottish Academy’s Annual Open Exhibition. I don’t think I’m BU to be so proud of her, although IRL she doesn’t think it’s worth mentioning to friends! She’s the youngest in the show.
https://rubymitcham.com

Why on earth would you be unreasonable??!!!

She's done amazing 😍 and you have every right to feel proud of her!

Congratulations to your daughter, she's very talented.

It's good that it's "proper" art as well that everybody can appreciate, and requiring technical skill, rather than the funny shit that experts swoon over!

She's absolutely astonishing OP - incandescently talented. No wonder you're proud, I would be bursting!

Thank you everyone! @WishinAndHopin made the comment about ‘proper’ art - it seems very hard to find a Fine Art course at uni which aligns with this. But dd is, for the time being anyway, quite set against bananas on walls etc and has put quite a lot of effort in to connecting with more traditional artists and craftspeople. She’s just putting together her portfolio for uni and we have no idea how it will be received! There isn’t an obvious natural fit for after school, but we’ll see. Art schools now want to teach you how to think rather than any actual technical skills.

It's a real shame that art courses have been dumbed down like that. I hope she can find a proper course that is suitable. Best of luck for the future 💜

Looking at her art I fear there’s not much a university lecturer could teach her about technical skills, I’d suspect she can paint better than a lot of lecturers.

Hi all, I just wanted to give a little update on dd after all your lovely comments. She is thinking about uni a bit more and has an offer for Fine art at Edinburgh and direct entry to second year at Dundee. She didn’t apply to any where else in Scotland. She’s working on lots of A level coursework and has put commissions on hold until they’re finished, although she is doing a few photo sessions for future work. Maybe she will go to uni and just go crazy with her art and have some fun! If you’re in Edinburgh next month, she will have another painting hanging in the Royal Scottish Academy as part of their 200th annual open exhibition.

Such a lovely update. Congratulations to her and proud mummy. Nothing is as good as seeing your children achieving their hopes and dreams and enjoying life x

Brilliant update! Congratulations on her acceptances ... hope her A Levels go well.

Your daughter is very talented OP. You deserve to feel proud and so does she! Also lovely to have a positive post on here.

Wowzers amazing!!

She is amazingly talented.

Old thread now, but I went to the RSA exhibition today and spotted Ruby's painting - I saw the name and remembered this thread. NIce to see it won an award. Well done Ruby, you have an amazing future ahead of you.

@DuesToTheDirt Aw, thank you. I hope you enjoyed the exhibition. She won the biggest prize of the show - crazy stuff at 18! And that’s her just finished her school exams. She’s been painting happily since - just delighted to be creating what she wants rather than jumping through the A levels curriculum hoops! rubymitcham.com/2026/05/13/award

It's a wonderful work, Op. You should be proud. I also like the pride that radiates from the butcher's face. And the waterside background.
Is it her Dad's scone?

@user1492757084 Thank you! No, scone isn’t her dad - it’s a baker in a tiny Scottish village where she was invited on an arts residency. Really lovely chap. She painted her dad when she was 15 as her first ever oil painting and it’s one of my favourites! This is it.

Your daughter has an amazing talent. Congratulations to her on the Award!

Wow! She is incredibly talented. I hope you'll keep us all updated on her art.

Tell her to have a look at jordanbreen_art on Instagram. They don't share the same style of art, but he's a young artist who went from serving beers in a pub, to making art his career and now employing someone to help manage the sales/postage etc. It's quite an inspiring story and I think she would relate to it and see what is possible just through Instagram.

I'm not in the UK, but all of the art work in our home is from artists I've found on Instagram. It's a great place for her to build a following.

Wow wow wow! What a talent! My eyes are welling up for her. So pleased! X

Fantastic what an achievement!

Incredible.

That's astonishing for a 15-year old. Well, for anyone really!

She's such a talented artist and her prize is very well deserved. Congratulations.

Oh my @FriendlyLaundryMonstersuch talent !
I’m not surprised she won 👏🏻

Thank you so much all. It's been so exciting the last two years watching her follow her passion and discovering that she has such a talent. The exhibition ended yesterday, which means that her painting Sun Girl will be couriered to the buyer. We'll miss it!