Very very well done, JoJo!
And I'm with Wendy here; far from being "less than impressed" that you used a picture to create a custom brush, I'm impressed that you used Photoshop's capabilities. Those features can really help, in time-saving and frustration.
Photoshop is not really a "painting program," although with PS 7's new brush engine, it's getting there. But painting, along with using some of Photoshop's unique features, can give you terrific results.
Play around with ALL the brush's features, including blending modes and see what they do. Or paint on a new layer, adjust blending modes and/or opacity. The key word here is play. B7 You'll come up with some very strange stuff, but also with "happy accidents." In both cases, the next step is figuring out why that happened, so you can learn from the experience. [/b]