I’ve decided to post my attempts at painting with Corel Painter X. With any luck, each attempt will show improvement.

Any and all suggestions, tip or tricks from you guys with more experience are very welcomed! Let the comments commence!

Really, go ahead.

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I’m not really sure why, but for as long as I can remember, anytime I start to draw without a predetermined goal in mind, I end up drawing female – well sketches – I won’t call them portraits because they aren’t realistic enough and they aren’t unrealistic enough to call cartoons. Caricatures, maybe? Except maybe not as fun. And, without the advantage of a model.

I dunno. I’m self-taught in technique only, not lingo or art history. And, maybe being a female myself means I draw the familiar? Although, I have to confess, despite living with this face for going on 35 years, I cannot draw anything that even resembles me. Of course, I guess I’ve never given it an honest try (not 100%).

Anyway, this (see image below ) is my second attempt using Corel Painter X versus Adobe PS or AI. Very odd – all the illos I do are smiling, happy people. Usually. Not always people or smiling. But, I guess because I’m not good at realistic facial features – all of these drawings look like they should be on Prozac (and will continue to until I learn to do it better, just so you know).

This one – well, she just looked a little sad to me and so I figured I’d give her some emotional release by letting her go ahead and have a good cry.

Ah, well … at least it’s not the “ugly” cry.

Good thing, cause I probably couldn’t draw it. (Oh, what?! Like you weren’t already thinking it?)

Years ago, while living in Las Vegas, I once left a small change purse containing @ $500 sitting on a bench outside a casino. A few blocks down the street in a taxi, I realized what I had done. The nice driver obliged by very quickly getting me back to that bench. By some miracle, the purse and cash were still there.

OK, I already had this image too. I’m SO not lazy, but when I saw the theme of this week’s IF, how could I use anything else?

This is an illo of my kids. My babies.

From left to right:

• My oldest-Rainy
• My youngest-Willow
• and my little man-Eli (aka – Bubba)

And, yes … he always has one eye looking to get into something. Anything. Every day. All day. (HELP!)

So, it’s true, I’ve pretty much always been an Adobe girl.

Well, for the past several years that is. I guess the very first time I ever drew anything with a mouse digitally, it was in Microsoft Paint. LOL! Wow, I’d love to see that, but because of a major pc crash years ago, I no longer have those early works. Too bad.

Over the following years, I played around with just about everything…

• Arcsoft Photo Impression
• Serif PhotoPlus
• MGI PhotoSuite
• many I can’t recall the names of…
• Paint.net
• Gimp
• Inkscape
• Paintshop Pro 8 (which I liked, but it’s not compatible w/Vista so I had to give it up for now.)
• Microsoft Expression Design & Blend (this actually came after PS7 – before CS3)
• Finally – I started with Abobe PS7

Now, I have the Adobe Master Collection for CS3 and I hardly ever draw with a mouse since purchasing my Wacom Cintiq (and no, I’m not rich! By far! I just never save money to buy anything else!).

Anyway, recently I decided to purchase Corel PainterX. I’d heard so many great and wonderful things about it and finally couldn’t stand it any longer. So, this Adobe girl went Corel.

I like it. Sure, it’s way different, but that’s exciting! I’m sure I won’t love everything about it, but so far – I’m having fun.

Here is my first try. It isn’t complete as I’m not really sure where it’s going. I’m SO not good at this kind of thing! But, we’ll see. It’s not great, but not horrible either.

Or, is it? LOL!

And now, with more detail. Still, no prize, but a decent attempt, I guess.

I feel like I kind of cheated on this one because it’s something I’d already drawn a few weeks ago. But, it fits, I think and I’ve been so busy lately. I know I have the rest of the week, but I’m afraid there’s no end in sight. I’m still playing catch up from the whole fam being sick or injured. May is almost over and I’m crossing my fingers that June is a better month!

Anyway, I live in an old farmhouse out in the country and this was my interpretation of how it feels to worry that all the critters are just going to take over one day! lol

(It’s meant to be a comic strip, but I had to modify it so that it would fit the wordpress page, and the frame isn’t perfect nor the size of the panels even, but I’m tired! lol.)

Okay, I so deserve chocolate after getting to this at all, much less on the day – not a week later. I’m still getting over a wicked case of the stomach flu . My oldest (6) is still getting over it, as is my four year old who is having more trouble on the other end (if you get my meaning). And, it’s just starting for my 11 month old who has sent me to the shower three times already. Have you any idea how hard it is -no impossible- to predict when and where an 11 month old is gonna spew?.

At first, we thought it was food poisoning. So, it turned out to be a bug – I’ll still never eat fried chicken or okra again. Sorry Colonel!

I know, I know – WAY too much information! Well, too bad! If I have to be grossed out for going on 48 hours then anyone who reads this can be grossed out for a minute.

Chicken anyone?

To get back on track – this week’s submission is my interpretation of wide. And, the first thing that popped in my head. All the parents out there will relate. If you’re not a parent, but plan to be one day? Trust me, it’s coming.

In the beginning…

How does a man reach the age of 38 and not be able to tell when a _____ is done?

(a.) pork chop

(b.) chicken breast

(c.) steak

(d.) hamburger patty

(e.) cake

(f.) any other freakin’ kind of meat, poultry or bread dish……..

Seriously, he was 31 when we met. Just what did he eat before?

“Can you come check this?”

I had the sweetest time with this one. My daughter -six today – helped, and her imagination is a wonderful thing to behold.

I’m supposed to tell you her favorite color is purple. We had to have 6 purple flowers for her birthday and 4 more – one each for the remaining members of the family.

She wasn’t at all concerned about seeds.

Okay, so I’m totally NOT a car/truck person, but I am pretty excited about my new truck. For those of you that know me, you are aware that for some time now I’ve been stuck out in the country every day without transportation.

Not SO bad, since- really? Where am I in a hurry to go with three kids at or below the age of 5 in tow?

But, coming up really quick, we’ll have two of those three in school, and I have to have a way to get them there, right? And, having a truck will help my hubby bring in extra money.

So, we finally gave in and went and signed the next five years of our lives away. lol But, all in all, we really got a good deal at a great interest rate. Shocking to me, although I’ve been working hard at repairing my credit after it was destroyed during my first marriage. I wasn’t expecting to get financed as easily as I was, and it’s nice to know my hard work is paying off.

Of course, now I have transportation, but with the cost of monthly payments + a HEMI under the hood + gas prices, when I’ll be able to afford to go anywhere is still up in the air. lol

She sure is pretty, though.