How to stop excess flickering implementing gradient shading on a form?

Hello,

I have implemented gradient shading on the forms in my program using a method I have found on a number of sites:

Protected Overrides Sub OnPaint(ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs)

        If My.Settings.Gradient_Shading = False Then Exit Sub

        Dim formGraphics As Graphics = e.Graphics

        Dim gradientBrush As New LinearGradientBrush(New Point(0, 0), New Point(0, Height), My.Settings.GradientColor_1, My.Settings.GradientColor_2)

        formGraphics.FillRectangle(gradientBrush, ClientRectangle)

    End Sub


This worked, but I found that in order to have the same shading on pages within a tab control on that form, I had to implement the following code:


Private Sub tbpOptimizer_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs) _
          Handles tbpOptimizer.Paint

        Dim rect As New System.Drawing.Rectangle(0, 0, sender.Width, sender.Height)

        Dim g As Graphics = e.Graphics

        Dim gradientBrush As New LinearGradientBrush(New Point(0, 0), New Point(0, sender.Height), My.Settings.GradientColor_1, My.Settings.GradientColor_2)

        g.FillRectangle(gradientBrush, rect)

    End Sub


This does work, but at times, the form flickers for a few seconds before the painting is done.  In trying to figure out what is happening, I found that the Paint event for the tab above fired about 80 times when that tab was selected!  I assume that is the cause of the flickering, because other tabs on the same Tab Control have their Paint event fired fewer times, and they flicker less.  But why would a tab page have to fire so many times?  And, more importantly, is there a better way for me to implement gradient shading onto my program screens?  

Thank you in advance.

Vijay