thanks, all, for the comments... airflamesred, I thought the bubbles came out better than I expected them to. I used the 'stones' or 'rocks' (can't remember which it's called) image nozzle in Painter 6, at various sizes, and cut the opacity down to 15% or so. Can't wait to get the graphics tablet I've got ordered... would've been so much easier than painting those in with the mouse.