Alternative to PaintShopPro ?

I have the artistic flair of a handful of hot gravel, and a desire to learn the intricacies of a paint program interface to match, but the two arty proggies I've used recently to do what I needed to do are:

Paint .NET (freeware)
http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/

GraphicsGale (free edition)
http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/