putting the PC to work

There are many art tools, paper, paint, brushes, but sometimes over looked, is using a photo.
The digital camera is important, for saving records of your work to files, and for sharing by email or on sites like Facebook, Wetcanvas.com or Myspace.
But there is so much more that can be done with those photos. Playing with saved copies of the photos on Photoshop, Paint.net or a free and easy one IrfanView, can help you create. Notice I mentioned using "saved copies". That is very important. A photo of art work you plan to experiment with should be a extra saved copy, with a separate file name so that the original isn't lost or destroyed.
The program I use is IrfanView it has options for creating negatives, and a number of special effects. I have a couple of pics of paintings that were cropped, turned into negatives, and I used a color swap program, that lets me see what other looks I can get from an original idea.
Give it a try with some of your work and see if it sparks some new ideas from your originals.