As a gift to myself, I ordered a Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet. Worth EVERY PENNY and I’m still amazed at how sensitive it is, how much art you can really do with it, and the variety of brush strokes and other effects you can do with it.

I wanted the 9×12 tablet, but ordered the 6×8, which is more than adequate for my needs. The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis also provided a good beginning. But within minutes of plugging it in and installing Photoshop Elements and Corel Painter Essentials, I was painting a watercolor! While the painting sucked, I was still amazed at what I could do right out of the box. As with any new medium, you need to practice. So far, all I’ve done really is the header graphic for this blog and my website, and this nasty little experiment.

Intuos Experiment

Had to show it off. Loved the way it did watercolor effects, pencil and chalk effects, etc. I don’t think I’ve been this enthralled with a new gadget since I got my very first computer… which is saying a lot. I have a ton of painting supplies that I don’t work with because I don’t want to have to clean up the mess, clean brushes, smell the turpentine… That’s mainly my excuse. No excuses here…nice, clean painting possibilities! I’m going to play with sketching and charcoal effects next. That always was my favorite medium.