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I received confirmation a few days ago for art funding in my local area. The application was written and sent a few months prior. I will be working with another local St Matthews resident. This is a very exciting opportunity. I am really looking forward to learning from this experience.

The application has been drafted in 3 sections:

1. St Matthews Got Talent = This will be another opportunity for residence from the local community to submit a piece of work for display. Similar to my experience, the winning artist may be able to tap into a new industry.

2. School Engagement = We are looking to host approximately 5 workshops for the local school. The idea is for the children to experience a live studio environment and create their own work for display.

3. Crochet Workshop = This will be done by Saima (Other resident). The workshop will be hosted and driven by her awesome skills.

I thought I would to a little write up about my tools of the trade. I have been using the Wacom tablet for best part of 15 years. The process, and dynamic flexibility is what makes it an essential item for any serious artist or designer. The feel of the tablet is great, the pen glides easily across the surface, and the front edge of the tablet is curved downward meaning you can rest your wrist on it and not be on a sharp edge.

Product
To me this is a pretty good size for most needs (drawing and most detail work). It does take up a good deal of desk space. Usually I place this just in front of the keyboard. The pen feels great. It has soft touch (if you like that kind of stuff). Like a real pen it feels much more natural than using the mouse when drawing, inking, etc. Erasing is so much easier with the eraser functionality though the two buttons on the pen often times get in the way if I’m not paying attention.

The pressure sensitivity and pointer functionality work nicely as well. I have used my tablet in Corel Draw, Photoshop and Illustrator.

Wacom is very good about updating their drivers. When we transferred our Wacom pad to other computers, Wacom had an updated driver available for download.

Technical Specifications

• Natural: New Wacom Tip Sensor with 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity
• Flexible: Ambidextrous design
• Comfortable: User-defi ned Touch Ring with toggle functionality
• Individual: 8 customisable ExpressKeys including OLED-displays
  
• Well-equipped: Grip Pen with pen stand, colour identification rings, thick-bodied replacement grip, 5 standard nibs, 1 stroke nib, 1 flex nib, 3 felt nibs
• New radial menus for fast access to shortcuts
• Consistent: New surface structure and design for easy strokes