So I have a new toy

It is called a Bamboo Pen, and it was acquired due to a recent post of mine, combined with some newly found personal guilt that I will not go into at the moment. I pretty much suck at it right now, but it's trey fun to play around with, so I don't overly care about my suckiness. It is basically a pen (and tablet) that enables one to sketch, doodle, create graphics and cartoons (I sound a bit redundant here), produce handwritten notes, draw, paint, and edit, etc. etc. digitally! And, since you use a pen on a textured tablet - in an attempt to simulate the pen on paper experience - it feels more natural (aka: "easier") than trying to edit/manipulate via a mouse (Yes I know this isn't breaking news or anything - for many of you out there - but it is new[s] and exciting to me).

The software (Corel Painter Essentials) comes with multiple (and very helpful) video tutorials (most of which I've watched already - though to be honest it's a lot of info. to take in all at once - and it's really late - so I'm not sure how much I've retained), and it all seems very user friendly. That said, when I did begin to dabble (on my own) I was forced to keep reverting back to the applicable tutorial (a practice I'll probably have to repeat multiple times before I manage to remember everything) in order to do pretty much anything. Regardless, it was fun!

I really enjoyed the "photo painting" (feels like "cheater painting") feature, where I was able to take this photo:

and with a few clicks: "photo painting" combined with some "blurring," "scribbling," and face "restoration" (I'm not likely using the correct vernacular here), I was able to create this:

(if you click on the pic for a bigger version, I think it looks...better.)

Ok, ok I admit it isn't exactly a Vincent or a Pablo, a Frida, Henri, Andy, or Gustav...by any stretch of the imagination (even my sometimes over-active/delusional imagination)! History won't "Remembrandt" me for it (har, har! - it's late and at 2:40 in the a.m. it's funny...to me!), and I fully acknowledge that if I was able to create it, it can't be all that complicated (and trust me, it wasn't), and I don't expect anyone to be begging me for prints any time soon (this may be the longest sentence ever, and is more than likely a grammatical monstrosity), but I like it!

~On a side note, and b/c I LOVE side notes, I do want you all* to know that I know that I totally over-use/abuse/apply-incorrectly-more-often-than-not punctuation...and don't even get me started on my total disregard for grammatical rules and structure...an FYI in case you were wondering, or were otherwise cringing at my writing "skills" and "style."

[*both of you]