Two people can paint the same tree and hand you two completely different mornings.

A picture is never only its subject. Two people in front of the same tree produce different work because they notice different things, stand somewhere else, care about different parts, and have different hands. What you are showing is your attention, which is why working from the same subject never makes you a copy. The subject is the smallest part of what ends up on the page.

Make something from a subject that has been done to death, deliberately. A sunset, a bowl of fruit, your own street. Compare it to someone else’s version and look for what only you put in, because that difference is worth developing.