It’s not much to look at, but there’s something that barely looks like an orchid in the picture below. No, I don’t know which species it is, only that it’s yellow. And yes, there’s a water-filled valley beneath it. This is my second piece using Painter Classic, scratched out with dry media mostly. Using the program is more difficult than I thought. Oh, by the way, check out this amazing colour-based optical illusion. It’s quite amazing, especially the third one.

I was randomly browsing when I suddenly found this fantastic piece of digital art on the net. It led me to a digital painting program from Ambient Design Ltd. called ArtRage. It can simulate realistic brush stokes on canvas or paper, as if you were really working with oil or acrylics. And it even gives you tiny congealed globs of paint if you move the brush in a certain angle. The colours will mix realistically when different paints overlap. Today, I tried my hand at it, using my trusty mouse in lieu of a graphics tablet, and here are the first two attempts at freehand painting, with no visual references. I’m really having fun with this and will have to practise more to refine my technique which currently sucks… the best I can with a mouse.