Fireworks for 4th July posted by Vivienne McDonald, Group AdministratorSaturday, July 4th 2009 @ 7:57 PM    post viewed 891 times

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It’s 4^th July and celebration time in the USA.

And the picture I included in this week’s newsletter had a gorgeous photo of some fireworks. It reminded me ...

Did you know you can ‘draw’ fireworks on your computer? Using the program called Paint that’s installed on your Windows computer, you can get creative and light up your screen!

The Paint program is in the Windows Accessories.

If you have Vista, then click on Start, then type:   Paint (into the Search box where the cursor first goes.). The program Paint should show at the top of the list on the left, press Enter.

For all other versions of Windows, (and if the above doesn’t work for you) then click on Start (or use your Windows key). Click on All Programs. Click on Accessories, scroll down to Paint – click.

The program will open.

This is a fun program you can use for all sorts of things, and if you have grandchildren, they’re sure to love being creative and making their own designs. There’s various effects to use, including pencil, paint, freehand drawing, text (so you can type words) and the Airbrush effect. And there’s even an eraser!

The way to make fireworks, is to use the Spray Can or Paint Brush function.

Click on the colour palette at the top, to choose your colour, then click on the Spray Can.

Next click on the button to choose the thickness of the spray or brushstroke.

Now move over to the blank area (the canvas) and click – that will be the start of your line, move your mouse into an arc, or whatever shape takes your fancy then click again to finish the line.

Move your mouse to the next position, and repeat – click to start the ‘spray’, click again to finish.

Move the mouse slowly and it will be a thicker line, move the mouse quickly and the spray will be finer.

You’ll have a screen full of fireworks in no time.  

Now, for those who are up for a bit of playing around with things. We’ll put in a night sky.

Click on the Select tool (the dotted rectangle), move to the blank canvas and click in the top left corner. Drag your mouse, which will drag the edge of the rectangle and move down to the bottom right corner, then let go.

Now click on the Fill button, go up to the colour palette at the top, and click on black, or a deep blue for the night sky. Go back to the rectangle you just drew and click – voila!!!  You now have a night sky to highlight your fireworks will look even better!

Here’s a two minute pic I did. It's not great, but it will give you an idea, I hope.

Happy celebrating!