Digital 'Painting'

I'm pleased 'the Artist' - in the May issue - has come round to recognising the creative potential of using computers. However the current crop of articles really miss the point. I can never understand why painters are content to use a photograph as their primary reference. I have to admit that since acquiring a digital camera I do take photographs as reference - but I'm a compulsive sketcher and the primary stimulus for me is what I've experienced from observation not what the camera has given me. Cropping and tweaking a digital photograph is not for me. Rather than just tweak images in Photoshop programs like Painter offer more creative opportunities. When I'm using it I try to forget that I'm using an 'oil' or a 'pastel' 'Brush' - they are just names that the program uses but consider the effect of the on screen marks just as I would if i was putting them down on paper. Again the starting point doesn't have to be a photograph - it can be an actual drawing. The link if it works - if it doesn't copy and paste it into your browser - will open a 'painting' worked in Painter IX using a plein air charcoal sketch as a starting point. http://robertkirk.co.uk/digitalPics/herm/herm.html I have reservations about printing and framing example like these but they are an excellent way of making studies for paintings in traditional media without using paper and paint.