Since I downloaded Corel Painter Essentials 4 I’ve been practicing with it, working at getting a feel for it.

When I’m working with Photoshop I have a pretty good idea what the effect of a particular manipulation will be.  I plan it, do it, and most of the time, there it is.  The situation with this paint program is quite different.

I don’t have a feel for this program yet.  I can’t predict what will happen when I push the button and when I can, it is often an effect I don’t want, but I have to try it to be sure. This is nothing to complain about, it is part of the process and I have to keep at it.

The rewards are there often enough to justify the effort.  Back when I taught psychology, we would talk about a random reinforcement schedule.  The rat presses the bar repeatedly but food is delivered after a random number of bar presses.  The rat works hard under this condition.  So do I.

It’s been 35 years or so since I taught regularly and I haven’t been keeping up with the literature and I wonder if the rats work better while listening to Stan Kenton.  I do.

By no means do I want this to sound as if it is drudgery.  It is not.  I’m enjoying myself but I do look forward to being able to predict the effect of a combination of painting type (oil, modern, impressionist, etc.) with brush type (smeary round, captured bristle, broad water, gritty charcoal, etc.) and color rendition (chalk, high contrast, intense, watercolor, etc.).  How do we get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice, practice, practice.