"Self-portrait with my Wife" Corel PSP Pro X3

Myself and my Wife

Here is a Springtime portrait of myself and my wife taken remotely with our Canon Rebel XTi on a tripod. I hope you have enjoyed all the Digital Visual Art shared this year. I will continue to share art that interests you and is compelling in some way.

This photograph was adjusted in Corel's PSP Pro X3, cropped, saturation was altered a tad, and the mat and frame was added there. I did add my signature and resample in PhotoPaint for display.

"Older Photographs Given New Life" Picasa 3.9 - Corel PhotoPaint

Cordovan and Black

Black

I've been doing a review of photographs using Picasa 3.9 on my Hard Drive, looking to cull some, to add space to the Drive. I browsed to this still life folder of my straw hat and Rockport dress shoes photographs.

I jazzed them up using Picasa 3.9 features for HDR, Lomo, Boost, and Museum framing. They have a homey feel to them as I have had the objects for quite some time and they are still in fair shape. The straw hat is a little beat up and has a headband made from an old narrow tie I got from my now deceased Father in Law.

I have an external drive with all of my photographs and images copied to it and still have plenty of room for more. But, my computer Drive is down to a third free space after defraging. I need to do some house cleaning.

Thus the browsing of the folders and folders of photographs and images. I need to bite the bullet so to speak and clear them off of my work PC's Drive. Need to make room for more images and newer photographs yet to be taken. This is a step many of you probably do or consider doing at various times.

I admit to having some trouble with deleting my stock of photographs and images, even though they are fully available on the external Drive. It is a conundrum. What is to worry about? The failure of either of these Drives. Which is likely, but not for some time as the external is much newer than the work PC's Drive.

So I must dive in and delete these extra folders I don't really need on this Drive and access my stock from the external. I find myself rambling. Which I don't do here often, so I hope you will excuse me.

Listening --- Pink Floyd --- Empty Spaces

"HDR Experiments" Tractors and Truck - Picasa 3.9

HDR Tractor One

HDR Tractor Two

HDR Tractor Three

HDR Truck One

I really like the new Picasa 3.9 for it is feature rich and easy to use. These HDR images were all done using the HDR tool in Picasa. I also used the Museum frame feature included in 3.9.

I did use Corel PhotoPaint for some color adjustments in using the Tone Curve for depth. I also added my signature and resampled the photographs for display. These are older photographs and I am certain that the Blue GMC truck in the snow was taken by my son Keir M. Gatzka, but I don't remember the source of the tractors.

The only quirk in the using of Picasa's features is that when you apply them they sometimes change your source photograph, even before you save with a different name. I found that a little disturbing, because I am used to iterative saves of changes with differing names for each file in succession.

In any case Picasa 3.9 is a really good program to keep track of your photographs and images and videos, as well as helping to create some attractive photographs with just a few clicks on the desired feature and some adjustments to each.

Listening --- Kenny Chesney --- She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy

"Acoustic Magazine No.4" Fake Cover - Corel PhotoPaint

Acoustic Magazine No.4

Today I am sharing another "Acoustic Magazine," fake cover. This is a Grunge Issue with a rusty background and some grunge fonts. I complied the digital collage in Corel PhotoPaint using pieces I had found in my folder for the Series 66 collages.

I added some dripping paint splatters and merged the "guitar player," with the background. I had created the player at an earlier time in another piece, but he fits here.

I always use Picasa 3.9 to browse my folders and found the pieces to put together for this "issue." I used the "Eyes Wide Shut" idea because of the large eyes on the guitar player, a play on words.

I saved the large file as usual and resampled for display here.

Listening --- Corky and the Juice Pigs --- The Grunge Song

"A Digital Room" CorelDRAW - Corel PhotoPaint Plus

A Digital Room

Browsing my Dover Publications folder in Picasa 3.9 I found a coloring page of a simple room. I opened CorelDRAW and pasted the bitmap into a page. Using the Poly Pen tool I drew the lines around the pieces of the room. Using the various fill tools I added texture, a floral wall and used gradients for the other walls.

Back to my Dover folder I looked to populate the room with colorful characters, I found two women that I liked and I carefully cut them and pasted them, resizing as needed. I added two posters and the vase from more Dover Clip Art.

I did quite a bit of this in Corel's PhotoPaint after I had created the rooms walls, floor and ceiling. I also used the Tone Curve for more color depth on the file. I saved the large file and opened with Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3.

Here I added the brown border of 25pixels and added the frame to the piece. I saved that file and then resized for display. I had added my signature in PhotoPaint as usual.

Listening --- Doves --- The Cedar Room

"Blue Guitars" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - PSP Pro X3

Blue Guitars

Today's image is a Digital Collage of a texture from Mayang's Textures (of concrete,) two photographs of Gals playing Guitar, and two photographs of Guitars hung in display.

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 and found all the images with the exception of the texture which is newly downloaded as of yesterday. It is a densely packed collage with redundant guitar images and a Blue's color. I built the original image in Corel's PhotoPaint, but I also used Paint.NET for the Ink Sketch and Pencil Sketch tools.

After I amassed the collage to where I wanted it, I applied the blue tint to it in Picasa 3.9. I saved the file and opened with Corel's PSP Pro X3 adding a rough frame then adding the Cyan frame after that.

I added my signature and resampled for display in PhotoPaint.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- The A Shuffle

"Digital Watercolor Paintings" Corel Painter - Corel PSP Pro X3

Four Eyes

Watercolor Portrait

Browsing in Picasa 3.9 I found a couple of examples of portrait work. The first one is an abstract I did years ago and had scanned in. I opened in Corel's Painter and created a clone then using the Ballpoint Pen I sketched the faces. I switched to Watercolor Camel brush and painted the colors into the image.

I added the signature in PhotoPaint. But I used Corel's PSP Pro X3 for saturation boost and the adding of the ornate frame.

The second image was a pen drawing I did at a book store, also quite a while ago. I had scanned this one in as well. I used the same Camel Watercolor brush to begin with, resizing it as needed. I also used a Flat brush for lines and for the background as well as the Erase Salt brush in the same.

Again I added my signature in PhotoPaint and matted and framed this image in PSP Pro X3.

Both images were smaller when I began, I used 300 dpi for them both and resized for display here in PSP Pro X3.

Last night, before going to bed I got out my Seagull 12-String Guitar and played and sang some Beatles tunes, starting with I Am the Walrus. I ended with Fool on the Hill. What an enjoyable hour that was.

"Dual Guitars" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Picasa 3.9

Dual Guitars Gouache

Dual Guitars Cinema

I began today on Twitter sharing photography, digital art, graphic design and typography leads. I enjoy using Google Alerts on these subjects set for "everything" and "happening now," as it garners some nice leads to share.

I then went to browsing in Picasa 3.9 and selected two photographs of my Seagull 12-String and a Lyon 6-String guitar. The first photograph I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and played around with it with a Gouache auto Painting. I had first added some saturated color and a "museum mat,' in Picasa 3.9.

The second photograph I played with only in Picasa 3.9. I upped the saturation and applied a feature called "Cinema." This cropped the image and placed a black border on top and bottom. I saved the file and opened with PhotoPaint to use Papersize to add a full black border. I had both images in PhotoPaint to add my signature and resample for display.

Listening --- Robert Plant & Alison Krauss --- Rich Woman

"Guitar and Spring Garden" Picasa 3.9 HDR-ish - Corel PSP Pro X3

12-String Guitar

Spring Garden

Picasa 3.9 has some new features with it. One is a filter called HDR-ish, which as you might surmise allows you to take your photographs and apply an HDR appearance to them.

I selected two examples to demonstrate the feature. First I did the Guitar, adjusting the strength, fade and radius of the image, I also touched up the Tone Curve in PhotoPaint. The second image is of our Spring Garden on which I applied the HDR filter again with some adjustments. I saved that larger file and opened with Corel's PSP Pro X3 and upped the saturation and added an Albumen fade and the golden frame.

I like the new feature in Picasa 3.9 and also the HDR function in PSP Pro X3. I need to experiment with my tripod and get some photographs to use for PSP Pro X3's HDR feature. Maybe when the snow really flies I'll get some interesting shots to share.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Reckonings II

"Funny Face" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 Plus PSP Pro X3

Funny Face

A "Funny Face" photograph of my Grandson, is today's subject image.  I browsed in Picasa 3.9 and discovered this photograph and decided to play with it in digital form. I opened with Corel's PSP Pro X3 and cropped the image. I also used the Saturation - Vibrancy to give the colors a boost. I saved the large file.

I opened it with Painter Photo Essentials 4 next where I applied the Modern Painting style to the image. After it was finished I used the soft cloner brush on the eyes, mouth and ears for additional details. I had caught my Grandson in a humorous face in the original photograph, I think his pursed lips expression stands in the painting.

I saved again and opened with PSP Pro X3 for the Cyan photo frame. Then I saved again to open with PhotoPaint for the signature and resampling for display.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- On the Lake

"Venice" An Exercise in Painting with Painter 11

Venice

I have this book about "How to Paint Buildings" by Manel Plana Sicilia and Muntsa Calbo Angrill, that I've had for years. Today I decided to make an attempt to paint using Corel's Painter 11 from it. I found a print of one of the book's paintings and did my best to imitate it. I used Gouache Painter 11 brushes and a Wet Grain Blender brush, along with an Liquid Ink brush for color and line.

It was an interesting endeavor as digital painting is undoable if you make any mistakes. I finished the large painting and saved it opening with PhotoPaint. There I added my signature and applied the Tone Curve to boost color depth. I saved that iteration and opened it with Corel's PSP Pro X3 and using the frames they have in that program I added a mat and golden frame. Saving again I then resized the image for display here.

Listening --- Counting Crows --- Perfect Blue Buildings

"Just a Couple of Guys" Digital Painting with Corel and the New Picasa 3

David

Joel

"Just a Couple of Guys," are today's images. I used the new Picasa 3 for HDR-ish look and feel for David and then saving that I opened with Painter Photo Essentials 4. Here I applied Modern Painting and Colored Pencil Painting for that image.

I browsed some more and found this photograph of Joel, sitting. I applied the Pen and Ink Painting, and the Colored Pencil Painting again. Then in Picasa I applied a Boost to the colors, decreasing the harshness with the slider.

I saved the larger files and opened with PhotoPaint to add my signature and resample for display here.

Listening --- Dr. Oz --- Television Show :-)

Digital Painting with Corel Products - Gouache Painting

Dodge Truck

Forest Road

Tree in Forest

I wanted to do a few more Digital Paintings in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 as I haven't exhausted the auto painting prospects of this program. So I browsed my photographs in Picasa 3 and discovered these three.

The first one of the Dodge Truck rusting away in the brush I applied the Gouache Painting with Intense color, no texturing. The second Forest Road I also used the Gouache Painting but this time with High Contrast color which gave me the deep rich color. I also applied the Surface Texture Image Luminance to the image.

The final Tree in Forest, another with Gouache Painting, High Contrast, Image Luminance texture and a slight boost of the saturation.

I finalized the images in Corel PhotoPaint adding my signature to the large files, resampling for display here and saving them as large and medium sizes.

Listening --- Ben Harper --- Strawberry Fields

"Digital Faces" Digital Collage - Picasa 3 (New Version) and Corel Products

"Digital Faces"

Today I browsed some photographs I had taken long ago of some of my older works, printed out and mounted on a wall display.

I opened the photographs in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and applied a number of the Auto Painting selections to both. After I was satisfied with each painted version I saved them separately. I then browsed in Picasa 3 (the new version) and selected them both and created a collage.

I saved that collage and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 to add a torn matting and black frame.

I saved that file and opened with PhotoPaint to add my signature and resize for display.

Listening --- Robert Plant & Alison Krauss --- Gone, Gone, Gone

Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 Fun Painting Photographs

Alaskan River

Bridge and Mountains

Trees and Mountains

Alaskan Restaurant

I was working on my laptop today on which I have Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I was browsing some of my photographs taken on our Alaskan trip a few years back and selected these examples you see here.

I used the Auto Painting feature of the program to create these images from the photographs I chose. I would take the image and apply more than one painting style. For example on Trees and Mountains I used a Wet on Wet Watercolor then applied the Color Pencil feature.

Corel's Painter Photo Essentials 4 is a fun program to create painted scenes from your favorite photographs.

Listening --- JJ Cale and Eric Clapton --- Danger

"Red Doors" Enhanced Photograph - Corel PSP Pro X3

"Red Doors"

I selected a simple photograph of "Red Doors," for today's image. I was browsing in Picasa 3 and found this older photograph of the screen doors. I opened with Corel's PSP Pro X3 and I applied the Vibrancy tool to it.

I was not satisfied with the saturation so I upped it in Hue and Saturation for more punch to the colors. I added the mat and frame using the Picture Frame feature. Saving the large file I opened with PhotoPaint.

There I added my signature and resampled the photograph for display.

Listening --- The Doors --- I'm Gonna Love You

"Flower Boy Steampunk" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Filter Forge - Corel PSP Pro X3

"Flower Boy Steampunk"

I began this image with a texture of peeled paint and superimposed a photograph of Guitars. I was using Picasa 3 to browse my folders and found both of these photographs. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and I applied the Guitars overlaying them on the white peeled paint.

I went back to Picasa and browsed my Dover Publications sampler folder for some Steampunk like images. I selected the Locomotive and Car, placing them end to end. I added the Boy standing on the fuel bin of the Locomotive and placed a Flower graphic in his raised hand. I found the Robed Lady and added her. Then I added the Man and Woman. I added the Watch in two places. Finding a pre-made Steampunk image I cut out the Smoke for the Locomotive. I doubled it and flipped the gears image and placed them together.

I had used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance on the background and added a Grunge frame to it, prior to placing the other pieces. I merged all the pieces into the one image.

I saved the large file and opened with PSP Pro X3 to add another classic frame. I also resized the image after saving the large file, having already added my signature.

Listening --- Amanda Marshall --- Birmingham

"Vintage Kay and Seagull 12" Enhanced Photograph - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint - PSP Pro X3

"Vintage Kay and Seagull 12"

"Vintage Kay and Seagull 12" is the title of today's image. It started off as a photograph taken at Pontiac Music and Sound's music store. I opened the photograph in Paint.NET and applied a light ink sketch to it with the colors upped to full.

This gave me the textured look I wanted. I saved the large file and opened with Corel's PhotoPaint. Here I applied the Local Equalization tool and used the Tone Curve to add depth.

I then applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance to enhance the colors bringing out the wood texture. I then opened KPT's Collection LensFlare and added a flare to the piece centering the sphere on the chrome string base of the Kay guitar.

I saved the file again and opened with Corel's PSP Pro X3 to add the Image Picture Frame using the black frame. I then added my signature in white, back in PhotoPaint saved the file and resampled for display here.

"Jack Jack" Enhanced Photograph - Corel PSP Pro X3

Jack Jack

A great photograph taken by my son Keir M. Gatzka of their dog "Jack Jack". He is a Rat Terrier and is a bundle of high energy. To get him to sit still for a few moments took training. And he is well trained as you can see in this photograph of him.

My Canon Rebel XTi is what was used for the initial image. I opened it in Corel's PSP Pro X3. I enhanced the color with Vibrancy and increased the saturation also. I used the Sharpening tool on the photograph after I had Removed Digital Camera Noise.

I like the way Jack is offset from the very center of the photograph. I also like the enhanced colors of this piece.

I used the Picture Frame tool for the transparent frame. This added some more interest to the offset and entire image.

Listening --- CSNY --- Wooden Ships

"Brain Drain" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint Plus

Brain Drain

Hectic times mean less time for blogging and It's been hectic here lately. Before running some errands today (printer needed ink as usual) I opened up Picasa 3 and browsed to my Mayang's Textures folder and found one to begin a piece.

I opened in Corel's PhotoPaint and upped the color saturation and used the Tone Curve for depth on the texture background. In Picasa I went to my Dover Publications folder and selected some clipart for this image.

I choose the head shot of the brain, A clock mechanism, and a measuring tool. I also found an Art Nouveau banner.

I used various methods of placing these into a digital collage onto the textured background. I had to cut and paste and erase according to each piece. I used the property Add for the banner and typed in the words for some humor to the image. "Brain Drain."

After I did my play on words, I saved the large file and opened that with Corel's PSP Pro X3 and added the stained glass frame. I resized the image and saved for display with my signature added.

I placed a QR Code in the image as well, for some fun. It really directs you to me and my blog and a bit more information.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Blind Guide