So painting directly from a photo isn’t a terrible experience, although it is time-consuming. I managed to speed up considerably once I discovered that ALT turns the brush into the eyedropper tool… yeah, I know, the most basic of shortcuts. : P And in the end it just looks kind of like I put a filter on a photo. Which my dad took of a bee on the apple tree a couple weeks ago, that this is. Anyhow, thank goodness for the blend tool, it is my favourite. Now if only it worked across layers like the Photoshop smudge tool…

Happy birthday, Mom!