"Ornate Firebird" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Ornate Firebird

A short post today. I used Mayang's Texture for the background. I auto painted it using Detailed Watercolor in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4.

I browsed my Dover Clip Art and selected the pieces of color and the musical instruments. I created a composition of them and saved the large file. I did the Digital Collage work in Corel PhotoPaint.

I like the illusion of a Firebird that is the main focus of the piece. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added the ornate frame, saving that iteration. Then I resized for display.

Listening --- Emerson, Lake and Palmer --- Lucky Man

"Guitar Player 3" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Guitar Player 3

As with other backgrounds I have used lately I started with a colorful Mayang's Texture. I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and again applied the Impressionistic auto paint.

I saved this large file and opened Picasa 3.9. I searched for another Guitar Player image I could scan in and found one. I opened Corel PhotoPaint and scanned it in. Using Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder I made it like a Ink Sketch halftone. I copied to the clipboard and pasted, erasing unwanted background from it.

I enlarged the Guitar Player to almost fill the image. In Picasa 3.9 I found a circle of multiple guitars and added it with copy and paste. I used the property Subtract for transparency. I also scanned in a grid of a chord progression and turned it on its side for the length of the image. I used the property Multiply for transparency.

I took one of my Jim Dunlop guitar picks and scanned it in and pasted the image onto the piece. I used the property Invert and erased around the pick. I added my signature and saved the large iteration. I added a Desert Blue 40 pixel border, saved again then resampled for display.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka - I Love You So Much

"Vintage Stamp Collecting Publications" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Vintage Stamp Collecting Publications

Along with my Cigar Box Collection of Vintage stamps I found some publications from the 1950's. I first created a colorful background from my Mayang's Textures folder, auto painting it in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4, saving the large file iteration.

I then browsed to it in Picasa 3.9 and opened with Corel PhotoPaint. I then took three Stamp collecting publications and scanned them in. I copied to the clipboard and pasted onto the colorful background. I used the property Subtract on the Mystic Stamp Company piece. I used Multiply on the listing of stamps. And Color Burn for the Stamp Finder from H.E. Harris Co.

Mystic Stamp Company still exists online and has a very good website. I could not locate the Harris Company, though it may exist under a different name now.

I placed the pieces in such a way that one can read them and look at the vintage stamps I placed on an angle.

I kept the number of pieces on the background few so more detail could show through. I saved the large iteration with my signature then resampled for display.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Can't Get Enough of You

"Guitar Player 2" Grunge Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Guitar Player 2

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to my Mayang's Textures folder and selected a Rust background. I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and used the Impressionistic auto paint, Random Brushstrokes set at Splat 60% size and amount. I used the Coarse Canvas setting for the canvas.

I saved that large iteration. Back in Picasa I went to my Dover Clip Art folder for a music clip, copied and pasted it onto the image in Corel PhotoPaint. I scanned in a Guitar Player in Paint.NET and used Blur Smooth on it then applied the Ink Sketch tool for the pen and ink appearance. I copied that, closing Paint.NET Then pasted, and erased the unwanted portions of the surroundings. This gave me the Guitar Player Ink sketch. I applied the property Color Burn for a brown look and feel, as I had with the music.

I added some DADGAD Chords from another document I have on DADGAD Tuning for Guitar.

I merged them all with the background. I applied the Tone Curve to give the color some depth, still in PhotoPaint. I applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge for a light grunge touch to the image. Using Filter Forge's Frames I gave the piece a slight watercolor frame. Then using Image, Papersize I added a 40 pixel brown border. Adding my signature with Color Burn to keep the brownish look and feel I saved that iteration. Then I resampled for display.

Listening --- Acoustic Junction --- Strange Days

"Guitar Player" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Guitar Player

Starting with a photograph of eucalyptus bark I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and again applied the Impressionistic auto paint.  I saved that large file. In Picasa 3.9, I browsed for the Guitar Player photograph and opened that with Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch tool to it. I also cropped it to fit the lower bottom of the background.

I used some Dover Clip Art of music and the 4/4 time notes and Staff Symbol, enlarging them to 300 dpi. I applied the property Color Burn to all these pieces as I placed them in the composition.

I found some guitar chord diagrams and copied and pasted them from another document. I resized them and used the property Invert. Then I reduced their opacity making them semi transparent.

I merged all to the background and saved that file iteration. I resampled the file for display and saved again.

Listening --- Wings --- Band on the Run

"Vintage Grecian Postage Stamps" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Vintage Grecian Postage Stamps

I began this image with a photograph of White peeling paint. I opened from Picasa 3.9 with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted it. I used the Impressionistic feature with rough paper and random brushstrokes, setting the color for Saturation. I saved this large file.

With Greece in the News so much I searched through my Cigar Box Collection of postage stamps from Greece. I scanned them into Corel PhotoPaint and adjusted the color with the Tone Curve. I tried to fit to the real size of each stamp, but found that challenging so I did my best to make them legible. I did use the Feather feature on each to get the perforations to show more clearly and less of the scanned background of the stamps.

I browsed my Dover Clip Art and found a piece of stained glass and placed it in the center of the Digital Collage of Vintage Postage Stamps. I used the property Subtract for transparency. I saved the large file and resampled for display.

"Musical Owl" with Vintage Postage Stamps - Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Musical Owl

A short post today. Here is an image featuring and Owl from Free Vintage Digital Stamps, Music from Dover Clip Art. I also included some Vintage Stamps from my Cigar Box Collection.

I Acquired the scans into Corel PhotoPaint of the stamps. But I used Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 to create an Impressionistic background from a photograph of paint peeling off of wood.

I assembled the Digital Collage in Corel PhotoPaint. Saved the large file and resampled for display along with my signature.

I am enjoying incorporating some of the Vintage Stamps into my current work. If anyone is interested in a particular stamp go to my Art for Sale page and email me personally. Thank you!

"Two Fish More Fish" Art Deco - Vintage Stamps - Corel PhotoPaint

Two Fish More Fish

I discovered this great Art Deco pattern in Edouard Benedictus' Art Deco Designs of Two Fish and Water. I scanned it in with my Canon MP495 as the basis for this piece. I opened Corel PhotoPaint and Acquired the scan and then applied the Effects, Tune Blur, Directional Smooth a few times.

I opened Picasa 3.9 and browsed my Dover Clip Art folder for some fish and nautical themes. I copied to the clipboard and pasted the fish and rowboat onto the background. I used the Property, Color Burn to make them transparent, placing them for a pleasant composition.

I also Acquired by scanning four Vintage Egyptian Postage Stamps to place in the four corners of this piece. These of course, come from my Cigar Box Collection of Vintage Postage Stamps. I copied and pasted these and used the Feathering tool on them, reducing the amount of white space around them each.

I added my signature in white and saved the large file, resampled for display and saved that iteration.

Listening --- Widespread Panic --- Fishing

"Verse and Chorus" Digital Collage Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Verse and Chorus

For this image I began in Picasa 3.9 browsing my folders and found a watercolor paper for a background. I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. Using Impressionistic auto painting I chose a watercolor brush set at fade in/fade out and random brushstrokes, full canvas. I auto painted the background. I resized the image to a display size, as it started out as a small file size, and saved the file.

From Picasa I opened with Corel PhotoPaint. I browsed in Picasa for a guitar image and ended using a Dean 12-string image. I copied and pasted onto the background and erased the white portions surrounding the guitar. I used Object, Feather set at 10 to soften the edges.

Again in Picasa I found a photograph of a young lady playing the guitar. I copied it to the clipboard and opened with New from Clipboard. Now I used the Eraser again to get rid of details I did not want. I then applied Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder filter to the end result to create a ink like effect.

I resized that image and pasted it onto the background above the guitar, using the property Multiply I made it transparent. I fitted the gal guitar player to the guitar. I merged all the pieces I had thus far.

I next chose Effects, KPT Collection's Lens flare and added two lens flares to the image. I used Notepad to search for a snippet of guitar chords for Verse and Chorus and cut and pasted them into the piece. I applied the Effect, Distort, Wet Paint to the lettering and merged with the background layer.

I added my signature and saved that iteration for display.

Listening --- Fleetwood Mac --- Crystal

"The End of Romance" Digital Collage - Art Deco - Corel PhotoPaint

The End of Romance

"After the Proposal was denied, The End of Romance," is the title of today's Art Deco Image. I selected patterns from Edouard Benedictus' Art Deco Designs, and scanned the page in with my Canon MP495. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and used the Tune Blur Directional Smooth on the background.

Using Picasa 3.9 I found images to use that demonstrated the denial of a proposal and two head shots of a male and female. I used the font Bedini for the words. I really wanted the Art Deco designs to stand out. The Style of Art Deco is one of my favorites along with Art Nouveau.

I used, in PhotoPaint, the Image, Adjust, Replace Colors for some of the Dover Clip Art I used in the piece. I added my signature and saved the large scanned, collaged file. Then I resampled for display.

Listening --- Chris Botti --- My Romance

"No. 1 In Style" Art Nouveau - Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

No. 1 In Style

Selecting an Art Nouveau pattern from "Art Nouveau Patterns and Designs by R. Beauclair I began today's image, a Digital Collage. Using my Canon MP495 I scanned in the background pattern into Corel PhotoPaint. There I applied the Tone Curve for a slight boost to the color. Using the Tune Blur, Directional Smooth I blended the colors a tad.

I searched my Dover Clip Art for a Vintage Woman's clothing style to fit the Flapper style. I applied that to the background centering her.

Next I referred to old magazines for the No.1 and the words IN and STYLE. I placed them using the Color Burn property, with the exception of the black type there I used the property Multiply.

"Meet the Happy New Me, No. 1 In Style," became the theme of the over all piece. I saved the large file and then resampled for display here with my signature.

Listening to --- Sheryl Crowe --- Mother Nature's Son

"Vintage Stamps Various Countries" Digital Scans - Canon MP495 - Corel PhotoPaint

Vintage Stamps 1

Vintage Stamps 2

From my Cigar Box Collection I scanned in some of my "Vintage Stamps," from the 1940's and 1950's. I used my Canon MP495 for the scanning and Corel PhotoPaint.

In PhotoPaint I added a light blue gradient background, selecting the white space with the Wand tool. Then using the gradient fill tool set at a -45.0 degree angle.

The details of the stamp scans fascinate me and I enjoy looking at the full size images. Though for display here I resample the images and allow clicking on them for a larger view. I you are interested in stamp collecting leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

Listening --- Collective Soul --- Energy

"Money" Digital Collage - Art Nouveau - Corel PhotoPaint

MONEY

I am following up on yesterday's image with another Digital Collage. This time for the background I selected an Art Nouveau pattern from the book, "Art Nouveau Patterns and Designs by R. Beauclair." I scanned this in with my Canon MP495 into Corel PhotoPaint.

There I applied the Tone Curve and Filter Forge's Photo Effect Vibrance to give the colors some punch. From there I began to add to the background bits and pieces of scanned material. I used the theme, "There's More To Life Than Money."

I kept the Digital Collage simple and straightforward. After I merged the pieces all with the background I ran the Tune Blur, Directional Blur twice to smooth out the image.

Still in PhotoPaint I went to Image, Paper Size and added a 40 pixel brown border to frame the image. I saved the large iteration with my signature added, and resampled for display.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Draw Closer

"Applause" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Art Deco

Applause

I decided to do a Digital Collage for my image today. I got out my "Art Deco Designs," by Edouard Benedictus and selected a page of designs, floral and colorful. I scanned that page in with my Canon MP495 at it's full size, Over 8" x 11".

I used Corel PhotoPaint for the collaging. I applied the Tone Curve to the Art Deco background for some color depth. I digitally cut and pasted the bits of words that I found in discarded magazines. I got the phrase, "Applause Serious Minds Fleeting Resistance."

I added a couple of bits of a warehouse image at the bottom. I added my signature, smaller that most often, and saved the very large file.  I resampled for display in PhotoPaint, adding a blue frame with Filter Forge's Frames, and saved that iteration.

"Two Watercolor Birds" Digital Painting Corel Painter 11 - Plus

Watercolor Birds

"Two Watercolor Birds," on a Impressionistic background makes for today's image. One of the birds is from Dover Clip Art and the other is from Free Vintage Digital Stamps.

I used a Mayang's Texture background auto painted Impressionistic in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I hand painted the bird clip art in Corel Painter 11 using Real Watercolor Camel brushes. I saved the texture and birds and opened Corel PhotoPaint to copy, paste onto the background the painted birds. I erased all the white space around the birds by hand and fit to size on the background.

I then merged them all, added my signature and saved the large file. I resampled for display here and posted this painting.

Listening to the TV News