The course is presented with Ulead PhotoImpact in mind but is general in scope so that any graphics application can be used. I am using both Corel Painter IX and Adobe Photoshop CS. Lots of drawing and painting basics information!

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The Clouds

These are the clouds images. I found it interesting that by blending the red, the blue and the white a cloud color would be created! I have labeled on each image just what brushes and blending brushes in Painter IX I used to get the clouds. As I will show below with the blending images, it is not always necessary in Painter to use the Blending Brushes when using Artists' Oils. These particular brushes have their own built in blending. However, I did find that using the Distorto Brushes helped with giving what seemed to be the right wispiness to the clouds.

I must study the sky a whole lot more...have been trying to notice the forms clouds take and the intermix of white and grey and tints of rose and peach, etc. My last clud, the sunrise or set, I ws just aining for something I liked the looks of with only a hope for some small amount of accuracy! Example, in now looking at the middle cloud image, there may be too much peach to blend with such a blue sky.

I should add that there is a whole library of Blending Brushes in PainterIX and I spent some serious time experimenting with them!

Blending

1. In this first image, I used the color wheel to select complementary colors and then blneded them. Beside each blend I have written the brushes used to do the blending.
2. The second image is a monochromatic color scheme with blending. I did use the Color Mixer in Painter IX to mix the colors and then the eyedropper tool witht eh circle which picks up several of the blended colors and puts them down as you paint with Artists' Oils brushes. I have placed some of the examples at the bottom of the image.
3. The last I couldn't resist including. I have Jeremy Sutton's Painter !X Creativity brushes loaded and used his variation of the Big, Wet and Luscious brush! No thumbnail for that one, just did a small sample.

I am now thinking that this is not so realisitic...should be more shade for ferns (yes, that is what they are around the log!!) to grow...perhaps more trees, then...

I did enjoy 'being among the trees and wildflowers' for a few hours though!