Painting with No Mess or Expense

I would lay a small bet that a good half of my bloggy mates have never bothered to explore the simplest program in the Windows zoo - the little drawing programme called Paint. It can be great fun for all ages and, if treated seriously, might become a great tool to extend once's artistic imagination and talent.



I drew this small pattern very quickly in the Paint programme which can be found under 'Accessories' in 'Programs' on the Start bar of a computer that uses Windows. I simply set the orientation of the page to landscape under Page Setup and selected the Fill With Colour tool on the toolbar. I clicked the colour I wanted and the rectangle of the page filled with my lovely rich red. Then I clicked the Brush tool, clicked white in the colour selection panel at the bottom of the screen and away I went. Move over Matisse!



This one is a little more ambitious. I had great fun in the more advanced graphic programme Corel Draw, making some of the shapes transparent ... Complementary oranges and purples made lovely pinks when other sections were overlaid.



Back to Paint again ...
This black background became the basis for blobs of several colours created with the spray tool, with some overlaid for extra effect. I don't like to use too many colours at once with these, I think creating a more sophisticated effect.



Geometric shapes came into play in this Paint project, done fairly quickly and with not too much thought to a perfect product. Again, colour is so important isn't it?



Remember, I have not had to buy a single tube of paint or page of paper so far ...
Nor do I need to clean up any messes on my clothing or the floor, for that matter!



This one demonstrates that anyone can have a go. A lemon background and vegetable green squiggles using a smaller version of the brush tool. Just click the brush, select a tiny size at the bottom of the tool box, get your colour right and you're away again.



A few more clicks and a bit of right brain thought and I've rung the changes yet again, in Paint.

You can find the Paint programme by going to the Start Menu/All Programmes/Accessories/Paint. Easy! I think it's been in all Windows systems since the year dot. Save your masterpieces as a jpg to send over the web.



I turned again to Corel Draw for this splashy creation, and becoming most irreverand, called it 'fissure'. Many oldies (and younger for that matter) will probably appreciate that title.

I am very aware of the huge advantages of the texture and 'feel' of paint - computers could never replace the sheer joy of working the real thing. But my goodness, graphic programmes do provide an extra dimension!


Are your fingers itching to be creative? Why not try out this no mess, no cost alternative to pencils and brushes? Or maybe you could tell me about some magical works of art you've already achieved?

PS There seems to be a lot of interest in this - if any of my bloggy mates would like to send one or two of their Paint creations to me I'll put them on 70 Plus linked to your site. Save as a jpg from the Paint programme and email to junesav@bigpond.net.au (Mind you a masterpiece can be a stick man or a pseudo Rembrandt - we won't mind!
We'll have our own little gallery!

Please leave a comment below to tell me if you are trying out Paint, and if you will be sending me a sample of your efforts ...

Sunday 2pm Judy of Living on the Other Side of the Hill has risen to the challenge and sent me a Paint pic for our gallery - I'll hopefully collect a few more and then I'll 'hang' them all in our very own gallery in the next post, with accompanying artists' links! Come on bloggy mates - send me yours to join in the fun! I'll wait until we have a respectable number of entries and then we'll have a virtual official opening, with wine and cheese (virtual)!
Artwork received so far from:
Judy of Living on the Other Side of the Hill
Lilly of Lilly's Life
Steve of Color Sweet Tooth
Rhada of The Musings of a Night Owl
Suranga of Gappa
Steph of Mrs Bubblefish
Genie Sea of Reality Insanity

Saturday 23rd May
Hi everybody
We've had huge flood problems close to where I live and I have been putting up my sister whose house looked threatened for a while so blogging has been interrupted for a couple of days. However, the sun is shining again here at least so it's all systems go for the virtual art exhibition!
I'll be organising the 'catering' and hanging the works later today so if anyone has Paint drawings ready, send them over and I'll put them with the others. Stick figures to Rembrandts remember - so don't be shy! We have a great range aleady and it's going to be fun. If you need more time that's ok too - we can always add more in the days to come ...
Cheers
June