Wet Plum

This blossoming plum tree painting was created in Corel® Painter™ 11 while playing with a sumi-e style. It is often difficult to achieve the look of wet media digitally, but with my own technique and a custom brush, the effect comes close.

The method used depends on the natural (at least in the digital world) effect of image interpolation. In short, Painter must guess colors to include in the painting as areas of color are blurred and broken apart in a controlled manner. In a less technical sense, the color is broken into its main components like ink and moves it around the canvas as if it were floating on water. The soft, wet media is a great complement to the harsh black outlines of the ground and tree.