How do I start learning about painting traditions from different cultures?

Start where your curiosity actually lives, not where you think you should start. I spent years studying Western painting before I realized the traditions I was drawn to required a completely different way of seeing. Look at what stops you—a particular color palette, a way of depicting movement, a relationship to emptiness on the canvas. Follow that thread. Then sit with actual images, not just reproductions. Notice what your eye does. Does it rest? Does it search? Does it feel rushed? The difference between knowing about a tradition and understanding it happens in that gap between looking and feeling. Pick one specific tradition—Japanese ink painting, Persian miniatures, West African textile traditions—and spend real time with it before moving on. Your observation will deepen faster than if you're sampling everything at once. The examined creative practice isn't about breadth; it's about depth and honesty about what moves you.