Couldn't have put it better myself Dan, mostly.  I like the response that digital brush strokes evoke in the viewer (mostly me), and they're an ideal medium/tool to employ to rough up areas of an image.  If they also look like real brush strokes, it's a bonus, to me.  Just checked your web site out - very very impressive work you have there.  I did my Foundation Course in Newcastle in 1978; I think Carl Lazzari, one of the lecturers from my later Fine Art degree course in Leicester might have moved on to Newcastle Poly, oops, the University of Northumria....!

 

I too used to aspire to be the Next Great Artist...!

My self-build system - Vista 64 on a Kingston 240GB SSD, Asus P5Q Pro MB, Quad 6600 CPU, 8 Gb Geil Black Dragon Ram, CoolerMaster HAF932 full tower chassis, EVGA Geforce GTX 750Ti Superclocked 2 Gb, Coolermaster V8 CPU aircooler, Enermax 600W Modular PSU, 240Gb SSD, 2Tb HDD storage, 28" LCD monitor, and more red LEDs than a grown man really needs.....I built it in 2008 and can't afford a new one, yet.....!

My Software - Poser Pro 2012, Photoshop, Bryce 6 and Borderlands......"Catch a  r--i---d-----e-----!"