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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

"Open Secret - New Song" - Line 6







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!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

"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.

Monday, December 22, 2014

"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."

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

"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.

Friday, December 12, 2014

"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.




Monday, December 8, 2014

"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.


Friday, December 5, 2014

"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.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

"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.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

"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.