...This painting by Sandy Dykman Rice started as a sketch on a hike in the Coronado National Forest overlooking Northern México.

The process:
...After sketching on half of letter-sized paper, I traced the major lines of my drawing underneath the clear plastic overlay on my digital tablet. I then painted it in photoshop, using my pressure-sensitive cordless pen (it uses 2 hearing-aide batteries). Being pressure sensitive means that when I press harder, I can make a thicker line or a more opaque brush stroke, etc.
...You don't see the image on the tablet where your pen is but on the monitor. This reminds me of a technique art teachers always have you do: where you only look at your subject. Is that contour drawing ? There may be another name for it where you don't lift your hand? Anyway, after a little getting used to, the tablet is great because it's so much like painting without the preparation, mess, chemicals (in any medium, many pigments are quite toxic), and cleanup. Of course, there are health hazards with electronics too.. radiation from monitors too close, electro-magnetic fields, eye strain, and I'm sure there are more (sitting on your butt too long!!)
...I hope you enjoy this painting. I don't use photoshop for a painting in the same way I would for a graphics project where the images might not be original. Graphics are judged as a design using many elements. To me, this is different than a digital or fine art painting where I want the effects to be created by brush strokes, not "magic" filters and fancy plugins. I do use layers which enable me to keep parts of the painting separate from each other, and I might adjust the colors or lightness/darkness, so I'm not at all saying computer art is the same as painted-by-hand art. There is no "undo" in hand-painted art if you don't like your last stroke!!

The subject
...My friend and I hiked a trail at the monument that narrates Coronado's trek through this region. I don't know how many native americans died during his trek, but noone can tell how many ultimately died as a result of his exploration. The title is only tied to my hike externally. I painted it because the Southwest has such wonderful colors and vistas for me.

Digital prints are offered for sale