1. A method of blending erase strokes into an image while at least partially protecting a selected region of an image from subsequent editing, the method comprising the steps of: (a) creating a first texture comprising a plurality of pixels each with an assigned scalar value indicating a level of protection for a corresponding pixel of a protected image; (b) following a first user signal, directing graphical input representing at least one erase stroke performed by the user into a second texture, wherein the protected image is at least initially unedited by the graphical input; (c) modifying a value of the at least one erase stroke using the first texture; (d) modifying a value of at least one pixel of the protected image using the modified erase stroke; (e) following a second user signal subsequent to the first user signal, blending at least one pixel of the second texture into the protected image; and (f) displaying an image based on the result of step (e).