"Colorful Digital Abstract" Corel Painter 11 - Plus

Colorful Digital Abstract

I began this image as a photograph of Colored Glass in many forms and hues. I was browsing in Picasa 3.9 and went to an assignment folder from PainterTalk and found this and other photographs.

I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and resampled it to a display setting. Then I used the Tone Curve for some depth to the image. I saved that iteration in a New Folder. Clicking on it in Picasa I opened it with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted it with the Modern Painting settings, I saved that iteration. To open in Corel Painter 11 I used Copy the Full Path in Picasa, then I used Corel Painter 11 to paste the Open path in the Open image window. I cloned the original auto painted image.

Using the clone I opened the Warp Image tool and using that brush like setting I warped the painting to a completely abstract piece. I selected the Artist Sargent Brush and painted lines upon this abstract. I next applied Surface Texture using Image Luminance for more brushstroke texture. I saved that iteration.

I opened with PhotoPaint and added my signature. I then resaved the display size piece.

It has been some time since I have done a Digital Abstract like this and I enjoyed playing with the original brightly colored glass photograph. Sometimes you just need to create abstractions.

"The Blue Heron" Corel - Plus

The Blue Heron

Years ago a friend and his family lived in Paradise, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. He had a Carvers Shop where he carved marvelous Bird and Animals carvings. One of my favorite carvings was a beautiful detailed Blue Heron. It was matchless in detail and harmony of scale and vision.

I was browsing in Picasa 3.9 and came upon an image of a Blue Heron. I opened it with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted it. I selected Illustration, Intense Colors, Rough Paper and the Gritty Calligraphy Brush settings.

After the Auto paint I used the Soft Cloner brush to add back in some detail like the eye and feathers on the breast. I painted those back in leaving other details alone.

I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and resized it to a good display size. I added the jagged edges and a black border along with using Visible Watermark to add my signature.

This image brings back memories of myself, visiting my friend's Shop and sitting in his loft while I watched him work. I did this and finished writing "The Three Sleeping Umbrellas," children's story I told my own children. I had an older laptop at the time and it was bulky and hot. A summer's day I won't soon forget.

"Textured - Colorized 12-String Guitar" Corel - Plus

Gouache Painted 12-String Guitar

With a pencil sketch of my 12-String Seagull S12 Cedar guitar, I did some processing to make a colorful image. Using Corel PhotoPaint I Rotated to Portrait, then applied the Tone Curve for additional detail. I saved that and opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted with the Gouache settings.

This gave me the brushstrokes texture I wanted. I saved that iteration and reopened with PhotoPaint. Here I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Colorizer plugin. I got the result of a brightly colored image. I added my signature and saved the display size.

I decided to add some more texture to the image so I selected the Effects Texture Canvas and added a stone-like texture to the piece. This satisfied my playfulness in doing an image and gave it some punch.

"Michigan Snowstorm" Corel PSP Pro X3

Outside the Side Door

Snow Covered Road

It's Snowing in the Midwest today. I got out my Canon Rebel XTi and took a few photographs from our side door, without venturing too far. Here are two of the photographs I took today.

I had Picasa 3.9 open and from the folder I opened each with Corel PSP Pro X3. I applied the Digital Camera Noise Removal, then the Smart Photo Fix. I made little to no adjustments in these tools.

The snowfall is seen as light but steady, no big snow flakes at this time of day. But as you can see we are getting a few inches, as the Road photograph shows. I added my signature to the photographs and a black border for better display, resizing them in PSP Pro X3.

I am in my Studio/Office sitting next to a large window overlooking Bald Eagle Lake. Watching the snow falling is peaceful and calming. I do like the change of seasons, I just don't care for the cold. It is beautiful outside.

"Pixlr - Self-Portrait" Corel -Plus

Self-Portrait using Pixlr Online

I was introduced to Pixlr online today and I used my webcam to capture an image of me and play around with it in the Pixlr-O-Matic mode. I adjusted it a bit and added a film frame, increased the vibrancy.

Pixlr allows you to select differing ways to work on your images online without having to download any graphics program. They have App versions as well (though I don't know if they cost.) The online version doesn't charge you as of yet.

I wanted to adjust the image of myself a bit more so I opened the image saved to my hard drive at 640x480 with Corel PSP Pro X3 and used the workflow I have described here many times before. I did use the Skin Softening tool and also resized it to a larger display size.

I like Pixlr and it will be great fun to play around with it more whether using the advanced tools or the simplified version.

"More Old Times Montage" Quadtone Corel PhotoPaint

More Old Times Montage

Another Picasa 3.9 Montage using the Picture collage creator. I scanned in these old times photographs into Corel PhotoPaint and created blue Quadtones out of them using the Duotones settings loading a Quadtone blue color set.

In Picasa I used the Collage creator and made them superimposed upon one another. These are old photographs from our surrounding area here in Michigan. I saved each scan individually, making them Quadtones prior to Montaging them. I used the Tone Curve in PhotoPaint to give depth to the color, after I changed their mode to RGB images.

I used Filter Forge Frames film frame on the finished display sized piece. I enjoyed using these photographs of times almost forgotten circa 1900. I especially liked the school portrait that seems to dominate this piece.

"Sledding Postponed" Corel PSP Pro X3

Sledding Postponed

One of my favorite winter photographs. I have presented it prior to this but I did a new workflow on it and decided to share again. I have entitled it "Sledding Postponed."

I used Picasa 3.9 to locate the original smaller photograph taken with an old digital handheld camera. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3, first increasing the size to display size, and using the Digital Camera Noise Removal on it. Then I used the Saturation Vibrancy on the piece to boost color. I use the Picture Frame to add a jagged surround and applied the 3D Effect to the edges for an icy appearance.

I added my signature with the Image, Visible Watermark and then finished with a black border.

These old sleds are no longer there sitting in the yard, broken and unused. I believe they are gone for good. So I am happy I got this shot before they disappeared from the neighbors yard.

They are talking on the Weather Report that we may be in for some light snow with little accumulation. Not like past years as a child when we used to get piles of it in December. It is raining now, climate change anyone?

"We Sing Karaoke" Corel - Plus

We Sing Karaoke [click for larger view]

A change of pace for me today. We had gone to a Graduation Party last summer and they had Karaoke there. Both my wife and I sang some songs together. One of our friends took photographs with my Canon Rebel XTi of us singing.

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to that folder and found those photographs. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and I cropped the photograph to a portrait size. I applied my PSP workflow of the Digital Camera Noise Removal, Smart Photo Fix, and Unsharp Mask soft focus. I also boosted the color with Saturation Vibrancy.

Saving that iteration, I opened in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and applied the Watercolor Sketch setting with the Wash brush. Auto painted, I took the Soft Cloner brush and added back in some detail to the faces and hands. Saving that I reopened in PSP Pro X3 and added the Ornate Picture Frame, and my signature. I resized to a display size for here.

I may not be a performer of my own music but I do enjoy some Karaoke once in a while. Other songwriters songs and lyrics and melodies are some how easier to sing than my own works. So we had an enjoyable time with friends.

"Artist in the Plus Music Festival" Corel - Plus

Hannah Clive

Daria Musk and Ram Rich

Shani S

Hanna Silver

Rebecca Perl

Suite 709

James Olmos

I wasn't able to make it to as much of the Artist in the Plus Music Festival as I wanted. But I was there for some great performances. The Festival was a great success and I thank all the Artists below for performing and supporting +John Voshell,
and all those for who had a part in making The Festival the Grand experiment that worked!

Google+ Hang Outs on Air are a fantastic venue for sharing Independent Musicians and the Arts in general.

I am posting these images I created using Corel PhotoPaint and Corel PSP Pro X3, not in any order, just as I have them listed.

I used PhotoPaint to crop and resampled the images to a working size. Then in PSP Pro X3 I did the rest of the work flow. With the exception of a couple of them I stuck fairly close to the screen captures I got. You can tell the ones I worked a little more on.

I did use Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 for those few and auto painted them along with the workflow in PSP Pro X3.

I would apply the Digital Camera Noise Removal, then the Smart Photo Fix tools. I added some Vibrancy in Saturation. I did apply Skin Smoothness and then an Unsharp Mask Soft Focus for highlights.

I added the frames and black border the majority of them in PSP Pro X3. They all are approximately the same display size. You can click on the Images for larger views with more details.

You can find all the Artists on Google+ and look up their profiles for additional information about them. Go to the About pages in profiles and each have many links for getting in touch with them.

Artists in the Plus links:
https://www.youtube.com/feed/UCtFo8vHoMRhh1oy-D9qUNAw

http://www.artistsintheplus.com

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ArtistsInThePlus/posts



Hannah Clive
http://www.hannahclive.com/

Daria Musk
http://dariamusk.com/

Shani S
http://shanirose.com/

Hanna Silver
http://youtube.com/astrobic

Rebecca Perl
http://www.rebeccaperlmusic.com

Suite 709
http://unlocksuite709.com/

James Olmos
http://www.jamesolmos.com/

"The Old Days, Montage" Corel Quadtone

The Old Days

Another short post for this day as well. Here is a "The Old Days Montage," I created using Corel PhotoPaint. I took two old photos of Ortonville and applied the Quadtone tool to them. Then I superimposed them in Picasa 3.9 as a collage/montage. I used Blackladder ITC font for the name in the corner back in PhotoPaint. I changed this image to RGB mode and using Filter Forge's Frames I added a film frame to the piece.

I also was able to get out my 12-String Guitar the other afternoon and it was in DADGAD tuning so I explored some differing lead and chords on it. I have some chords memorized for that tuning, but I love discovering new fingerings for chords. So I enjoyed myself playing some improvised chords and leads. Coming out of a musical slump now and it feels good.

"Intense Blues Digital Poster" CorelDRAW - Plus

Ain't Nobody Gettin' Away

Short post today. I combined some old "Blues Performers," into a Digital Poster. I used Corel PhotoPaint for the photos and the processing. I copied to the clipboard and pasted onto a new file in CorelDRAW. I added the blurbs and the backgrounds with the black signature and frame finishing it off.

I saved the large iteration and then resampled to display size. Funny I had more time when I got up this morning! Now it's dark out already. Amazing!

"Design for Life - Live for Design" Again - CorelDRAW - Plus

Design for Life - Live for Design [click on for larger view]

Continuing with the "Design for Life - Live for Design" phrase I selected in CorelDRAW the fonts Bodoni MT Black and Arial Narrow. Using them I created all capital rectangles of the phrase. I duplicated the Bodoni phrase and used Red as my main color and a black shadow behind.

I just used Arial Narrow on its own to complete the phrase. I duplicated again with the phrase placed within the other making one large rectangle. Grouping that I duplicated it and made it a smaller size. I ended up with the phrase five times.

I browsed for an Art Nouveau background in my Dover Publications Samplers and found one I liked. I lined up the five to dominate the floral design. I grouped the entire thing and copied it to the clipboard.

I opened as New from the Clipboard in Corel PhotoPaint. I saved that iteration as a jpg file. There I used the plugin Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge to add a linen effect to the piece. I had also added my signature very small in the lower left hand corner.  Saving that as a different large iteration I resampled in PhotoPaint for display size and saved another file.

"Design For Life - Live For Design" Art Nouveau - CorelDRAW - Plus

Design for Life - Live for Design [click for larger view]

I browsed in my Dover Publications folder using Picasa 3.9 and found this Art Nouveau floral square. I copied to the clipboard and pasted into CorelDRAW. In DRAW I lengthened it into a rectangle and converted to a bitmap. I adjusted the colors to a subtle Sepia tone overall.

I selected the Font AucoinExtBl, then designed the two phrases: Design For Life and Live For Design. I have used these before for image pieces. I applied Force Justify to create a square look for the phrases, adjusting line spacing to 70% the original.

I grouped the objects and copied to the clipboard and opened with New from Clipboard in Corel PhotoPaint. There I resampled for display size and added my signature in white.

"In the Spotlight with Tim Behrens" Corel - Plus

Tim Behrens In the Spotlight [click for larger view]

I watched the "In the Spotlight with Tim Behrens" on YouTube and made some screen captures with Picasa 3.9 of his performance. This show is put on by +Artists in the Plus as a Google+ Hangout and streamed to YouTube for viewing after.

The interview was as full of information about Tim's many activities and, of course, his music. He is an accomplished guitarist and pianist, as well as experimenting with Tech gear. His songwriting expertise was featured as he played to the Google+ Hangout audience.

I took one of the screen captures and opened it in Corel PhotoPaint where I cropped it and save as a working jpg file. I reopened from Picasa with Corel PSP Pro X3 and resized the file to a larger work file.

I applied the Digital Camera Noise Removal and the Smart Photo Fix tools to prep the image. I added some Vibrancy with Saturation boosting the colors about a third. Saving that iteration I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and used the Classic Oil setting with Canvas paper. I auto painted the image. Then I used the Image Luminance to add in Surface Texture. I saved that iteration and from Picasa reopened with PSP Pro X3 and added my signature and a jagged edge to the image. Finishing it off with a black border.

If you would like more information and/or to watch the show here are the links:

http://timbehrens.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob6Qq3Bbe3g

"Digital Ink 12-String Guitars Collage" Paint.NET - Corel

Digital Ink 12-String Guitars Collage [click for larger image]

I used multiple photographs of a Drama that I took in 2006. In Picasa 3.9 I created a Superimposed Collage of them. This blended them all into a color filled image with indistinct characters and letters. I opened it next in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted them using the Impressionistic settings. This gave me a good working painterly background for a collage of guitars. I saved this large iteration.

Next I searched for and selected two "12-String Guitars," images. I opened with Paint.NET and used the Ink Sketch with no color and a boost to the inking. I copied and pasted these into Corel PhotoPaint onto the background I made before. I duplicated the guitars and carefully placed them in rows, reversing them as I went.

Using the Font Bleeding Cowboys I typed the title. I used the Effects, Texture, Plastic tool for the three dimensional look of the title. I merged all and saved the large file with my signature. I resampled it for display size and saved that piece.

I used the plug-in Filter Forge's Frames to add a light film frame to complete the image and saved it one more time.

"Digital Collage Painted Martin Guitar" Paint.NET - Corel Painter

Digital Collage Painted Martin Guitar

I selected a "Martin Guitar," photograph from Picasa 3.9 and opened it with Corel PSP Pro X3. There I applied the Smart Photo Fix to it upping the color and softening it. I added some hatching to the image surrounding the guitar and saved the file.

From Picasa I opened with Paint.NET and used the Collage Paint tool to create the next version of the image. Still recognizable as a guitar I saved that file and opened with Corel Painter 11. I then painted the brushstrokes by hand, using the Artists, Sargent brush set for cloning, though I was not cloning at the time. I outlined the guitar and the framing using this brush. I saved that iteration.

Next I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and went two iterations back to the PSP image in Picasa. I copied that to the clipboard and pasted it onto the painted collaged guitar. Using the property Multiply I added back in details of the guitar. I merged these together added my signature in white and saved another iteration.

"Paisley Rectangles" Dover Clip Art - Mayang's Textures - Corel

Paisley Rectangles [click for larger image]

Late post this evening. I browsed to my Recent image folder in Picasa 3.9 and reminded myself I had gotten these four "Paisley," images from my Dover Publication Samplers. I first attempted to use CorelTRACE to create a vector image of the lower left hand image to color in with CorelDRAW. I soon found out it was a tedious job of patient work.

So I browsed to my Mayang's Textures and selected a greens and browns texture. I opened that with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and painted it with the Impressionistic settings Basic paper, Light Contrast color. This gave me a large work space for the paisley images.

Saving that I opened it with Corel PhotoPaint and from Picasa 3.9 I copied and pasted the paisley images one at a time. I rotated each one to lay on it's side to allow all four to share the space. I resized them to fit and used the Tone Curve to darken the line work. Then I merged all.

I saved that and then resampled to a display size and applied my signature to the work. I Like paisley work and Impressionistic work as well, so I enjoyed my play with both styles mixed.