barbaraburns.com

I love to paint. I have a very demanding boss and work schedule so digital painting is much easier for me week-end days and evenings after work than getting out the easel, oil paints and the resulting clean up afterwards. Painting in watercolors on watercolor paper would mean a lot of my time would be spent in preparation and clean up too.

I have a Wacom Intuos 4 x 5 tablet – I am a professional artist and designer, not a hobbyist, so I spent the money to get a pen that supports tilt (I don’t have an airbrush yet but some day maybe) and I have a couple of great paint programs – Corel Painter IX and Nature Painter. The price difference is amazing … Nature Painter is not a giantly expensive program (about $40 US) but it is nearly like painting in real life with oil paints! To me anyway! I love to use it to paint or to doodle! Corel Painter IX cost me $230 US plus – it is very much worth it if you paint a lot and need the gazillion features offered in it … and I qualify as one of those because I have so many different “styles” and “media needs” in my painting career. The Artist’s Oil Paints was what convinced me that I really needed to get the program – I love the Croquil Pens though! They are my newest favorite sketch tool! And sketching is entering my painting process because of them so my art is evolving too just because I am working in an additional medium. Traditonal or Digital art requires the same skills and abilities even if applied in different ways.

The good news … I’m not spending much money on canvas and watercolor paper these days (I have several canvas waiting for me to get in the mood to use oil paints & my easel again) – my grandson and I use my watercolor paints when he comes to visit – it is fun to paint in real life with him and I want him to use good paper even if he is only 8 years old – you are never too young to learn the quality of your artwork is improved by using the best materials … but it is so much easier to just sit down at the computer after work or while drinking coffee early on a Saturday morning and start creating – clean up is a snap too. I’m not painting murals on the walls using the computer but I can paint those wall murals any time I want to do so too!

It is the best of both worlds! I can do either or both!

I’m entering a contest too – at Ballistic Publishing – they put out a Call for Entries for a Painter book. Whether I am included in the book or not – it is exciting to submit my artwork and have it seen by the world (View All Entries) … and by some really well-known and well-respected Painter Artists that are the contest judges.

Wouldn’t it be REALLY exciting though if I were to happen to be included in the book? I am good after all! ;>) So if you have a few minutes … go on over and take a look and see if you think I have a chance of being included … you will see some awesome artwork!

Technorati Tags: Painting, Painter Contest, Corel Painter IX, Nature Painter