Laura Seabrook's Ramblings

I have over the last 10 odd years, been feeling the effects of rheumatism and arthritis. Nothing too severe, mind you - mostly stiffness. Anyway, today I thought I'd try using the graphics pad to do an illustration for my web comic. Below's the result:

After a false start using Painter (I really need to read the manual!) I reverted back to Paint Shop Pro. The figure at front is done using my standard technique of scan and colour hand drawn line work. No problems there. The scene at rear is based on the photo at Nova Roma, and was mostly drawn using the tablet.

OK, it hurt! I was gripping the stylus to tightly and at the wrong point.

The tablet itself (A4 size) had to be braced on the fold-out keyboard tray with the keyboard sticking out for access to the SHIFT/CTRL/ALT keys, and the mouse on top of the scanner. Not an ideal arrangement. I found it hard to draw a close line, but I guess that's all a process of learning.

My index finger is stiff and achy - not good. I might have been in front of this bloody computer too much in the last week.

Pegasus has been limping on his rear left leg. It may be a touch of arthritis, but some years ago he injured that leg while out for a walk. I think he twisted somehow and it became inflamed. Maybe he's been having trouble with it again -- that'd explain why walks are taking so long.

Or it could be arthritis (or both). It's been cold and wet the last few days, and the joint on that leg looks swollen. My own left foot's been hurting in the last week, since Wake the Dead, and even Anon (one of the Muscovy drakes) is limping, on the left leg! Very odd.

I'm keeping him inside for most of the day, but if it doesn't improve by tomorrow morning, we're off to the vet.