Aikshrees Kanduraja

What happened next to Pablo and other daring actions by mortals challenging their small lives.

and a cameo by a real-life god.

Because, you know, the gods get mad if you don't include them.

And I'm too busy to get smote.

Not today, Hades.

Stay with us.

It's This American Life, Act One, Icarus.

So Pablo Manriquez in Washington, D.C.

had received these art supplies, perhaps discarded by an Amazon package thief or perhaps a gift from the gods.

And he figured there's all these big egos in town who would love to be memorialized in oil portraits.

Well, I could do that for them, even though Pablo himself had never painted a portrait in his life or painted anything for that matter.

I had sort of a clear vision in mind of what I needed to do.

I needed to learn how to paint a face.

Politicians have them.

You can't sell a portrait without one.

Pablo finds a YouTube channel called Paint Coach.

It has a 10-minute crash course.

He follows along, he starts moving paint around on the canvas, and he's hooked.

In his head, he's already competing with the legends who are hanging on walls around town.

He just needs a first subject to paint.