"Open Secret - New Song" - Line 6

https://soundcloud.com/gatzka-music/opensecret1

A song for those in a relationship where there are no secrets.

Soon to be on sale on CDBaby.com

My first single there.

Have a listen!

"Blue Textured Redheaded Young Lady" Corel

Blue Textured Redheaded Young Lady

A Texture from Mayang's Textures of Blue Wood and a Portrait of a Redheaded Young Lady are the subject matter today.

I opened the Young Lady Portrait in Corel PhotoPaint. I applied the Threshold tool to it with color left in the image along with white space. I layered the Blue Texture over it and rotated it to portrait instead of landscape. I applied the property Multiply to the Texture for blending with the Young Lady.

I liked the contrast of her Red Hair and Pink Blouse with the Blue Textured Wood. I added my signature and merged all layers together.

Another striking image that required blending of the image with texture. I saved the large iteration and then resampled for display here. I set Compression at 75 and Smoothing at 33 for the JPG file.

"The Stare - Portrait of a Man" Corel

The Stare

Images collected from StockVault and the MorgueFile made today's offering for your pleasure. I opened the Portrait of a Man in Corel PSP Pro X3 and applied the Threshold tool. I adjusted this slightly.

I opened the Free Friday Texture from StockVault and added to the Portrait. I stretched that length wise to fit the Texture. It was a bit wider than it but I liked the narrow confines of the composition. I used the Property Lighten on the Portrait to add the Texture as the main coloring.

I applied my signature in black and merged all the layers together.  I saved the large iteration and resized for display. I decided to use the Curves function and Saturation tool to add some depth and boost to the colors of the Texture I used.

I really like this photographers approach to his subject - straight on for this Portrait of a Man. Thus the title: "The Stare - Portrait of a Man."

"Dear Prudence - Digital Impressionistic Watercolor" Corel

Dear Prudence - Digital Impressionistic Watercolor

This image began as a screenshot of Alanis singing "Dear Prudence." I opened the screenshot in Corel PhotoPaint with New From Clipboard. I cropped the image. Then I saved the large file.

Next I opened in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and painted it with the Watercolor setting, I used the clone brush to make the eyes and mouth clearer. I used Impressionist Brushes setting on it as well.

Saving that I opened in Corel PSP Pro X3, used Saturation Vibrancy set to 11 on it. I also added the Stained Glass frame in Image, Picture Frames. I added the layer with my signature and then merged all to one layer or background.

I had also added some Image Information, Copyright, Title, etc. and saved again. I resized for display and saved with a new name.

I enjoyed Alanis' version of "Dear Prudence," very much and I have not been a true fan of hers, but I did enjoy some of her earlier hits. This version is very different, though it is quite true to the original by The Beatles.

"Blue Eyed Lady Watercolor Texture" Corel - Filter Forge

Blue Eyed Lady
(Click on for Larger View)

I garnered another portrait of a Woman from MorgueFile, along with a few other portraits. I selected this one because of the Blue Eyes and Full Mouth. It is also asymmetrical. More of the focus on her face on the right hand side of the image.

I opened it in Corel PhotoPaint and used the Threshold tool. This actually gave me quite a bit of black on the left side and surrounding the face. I decided to alter that. I found a Texture and using Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 I auto painted it with saturated water colors. I added this to the image, then realized I needed to use the Wand tool to select the face first, so I did that. I layered them together. I used the Fill tool for the face with a gradient set on radial.

I then reopened the original Woman's portrait and cut the Blue Eyes and placed them one at a time, I also did this with the mouth. I merged all layers and applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance to boost the colors and show off the Texture of the Watercolor Brushstrokes.

I felt it needed one more thing. I grabbed a Dover Publication Clip Art Frame with birds. I added my signature to the image and merged layers again. I saved this file with 75 compression and 33 smoothing, an optimized jpeg.

"Grandson - A Little Young to be at a Bar" PicsArt - Corel

Grandson

My Daughter took this picture with her LG Phone. They went to a restaurant for lunch and found that they had added a Bar to the place they went. So it appears that my almost 5 year old Grandson is at a bar. Look closely at the background of this image.

I had her send me the photograph and saved it on my phone. I used two effects filters in PicsArt App to create this image. I emailed it to myself, downloaded it, and opened in Corel PSP Pro X3. here I added the black frame and my signature in white. Oh, yes, I increased the image size as well. I merged all the layers to one.

Simple as that I had an interesting image of my Grandson.

"Vintage Prom Queen Beauty" Paint.net - Corel

Vintage Prom Queen Beauty
(Click for Larger Image
with more Details)

I opened another MorgueFile portrait of a Young Beauty, in Paint.net. I applied the Artistic Oil Paint tool, High on Color and Coarse Brushes. I then took a scanned in photo of a number of young ladies in a Vintage setting, that I had scanned in the other day. I opened that in Paint.net, and selected all and copied it to the clipboard.

I went back to the oil painted Young Beauty and placed the scan as a layer. I adjusted the layer to fit and applied a property for transparency. I then applied the Artistic Ink Pen to the merged layers. I kept the color high and the ink setting low. I saved this large file with a new name.

I opened that file in Corel PSP Pro X3 and added a black border, with my signature as a layer with transparency. I added Image Information and merged all layers. Saving that iteration I opened in Corel PhotoPaint to resample and save compressed by 75 and smoothed by 33, with a width of 1220.

I imagine this Young Beauty daydreaming about her relative in the Vintage Photograph, and her own future. Perhaps a Prom Queen in the making.

"Young Woman - Mayang's Textures - Blended Portrait" Corel - Picasa

Young Woman - Mayang's Textures

I gathered a few more portrait images from MorgueFile and I selected this Young Woman's image. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and used the Threshold tool on it, adjusting it to display more of her face. I then went online to Mayang's Textures selecting the Paint Textures I found one to my liking and downloaded it to my computer.

Still in PhotoPaint I imported the Texture and fit it to the large image of the Woman. I added it with the property of Multiply and adjusted it's Opacity slightly. I merged the layers, and saved the image

I then opened in Picasa 3.9 to add the Museum Matte and frame. Saving that iteration, I went to Corel's PSP Pro X3. Here I played with Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy to add a boost to the colors. I also added my signature as it's own layer. I merged them.

I resized in PSP for display and saved again, with a new name.

I like the way her face is prominent, and how her bracelets show up clearly. I am impressed once again with the quality of Mayang's Textures and really appreciate their site.

"Abstract - Beale Street Blues Players" PicsArt - Corel

Beale Street Blues Players

I took this photograph with my Smartphone at Beale Street Ribs, in Fenton, Michigan. This duo was playing Blues with backtracking equipment, and did some originals as well.

I sent the photograph to myself after using the PicsArt App on it to give it the Contours Abstract appearance. I added a light tint to it here as well. After downloading it to my computer I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and added Image Information, and applied the Saturation Vibrancy tool. I also used the golden frame addition here in Images, Picture Frames.

I would have to say that we enjoyed the Live Blues Rock music they played, and gave them a thumbs-up before leaving, accompanied by big smile of approval.