"Love Is All You Need" Corel PhotoPaint - Corel PSP Pro X3

"Love Is All You Need"

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 for some Victorian style clip art. I located some in my Dover Publications folder. I began with the stylish scrolling frame as the background.

I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and added the lovers clipart then created a Duotone giving it a bronze cast. I converted back to RGB and Using Replace I added the color of a golden cast.

I browsed some more and found the image in the center. I cut it out of an advertisement using only the young man and woman. I pasted the piece and feathered it a bit, shrunk to fit the center and pasted it into the background.

I used the theme of "Love is All You Need," with the font "Newveau." That, of course, is from the Beatles song. I added my signature in brown. I saved the large file and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

There I added a Daguerreotype frame and resized for display here.

Listening --- The Beatles --- Love Is All You Need

Man with Tie - Circa 2007 - Digital Manip

Another of my images from 2007, as I try to find time to make new images, these are in review. This is a Digital Manipulation and Painting from a photograph taken by my son Keir M Gatzka.

I utilized CorelTRACE on this piece to give it the posterized detailed appearance. I painted it in Painter 8 as well. I arrived at the colors by using KPT's Collection and an invert, if my memory serves me right.

The piece reminds me of the Blue Group somewhat but that has no relevance to the creation of it. Just concidence. I have garnered some interest in the image from various sources, so I decided to share it today.

The original is 3200x2648 pixels at 7.5 megs, 300dpi. So I resized it in PhotoPaint for display here. It is also displayed on my Fine Art America Gallery, where I have only a few pieces showing.

Last night I got out the 12-string guitar and played around with some chord progressions like:
C Am C Am F G and Am G Bm C D Em. Then I tuned to DADGAD and played some more before retiring to bed.

I also have had my Beatles song book out recently and have been plucking around with song's like "Mother Natures Son." Fun to do, trying out differing Artist's music.

Playing the guitar is very relaxing if you are not playing uptempo chord strumming. I haven't written any new lyrics, I have been busy with other projects and nothing has come to mind of late. Funny how that can happen to you, I guess I'm in a musical dry spell after a year and some months of creativity with some good songs under my belt.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Watch the Wind Blow By Cover
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Classic Mustang - Recording

"Mustang Sally" was a hit song many years ago as I am sure some of you remember. This blue Mustang is another painting done in ArtRage, the detail on the engine was tedious to get it right, but worth the work.

I hope you are enjoying the Custom Cars motif I have been displaying. The paintings were great to work on and produce with the aid of digital painting programs like ArtRage.

I have a few guitar images I have garnered from the Reference Library on WetCanvas that I will be experimenting with soon. I do love a good guitar piece and like creating them.

As I was practicing yesterday on the guitar, I found a couple of Beatles tunes that I have had for some time, from the old OLGA website. Chords and words together.

I decided to record two of them as covers, "If You've Got Trouble" and "I'm Looking Through You." They both turned out pretty good but I like the second one I mentioned the best.

I had to capo up to the third fret to sing it. Without the capo it was way to high a vocal for me to sing, even though I have a fairly high singing voice, my range is OK. I don't know if I would be considered a tenor, never had anyone tell me if I am. I don't know the names of all the vocal ranges well and where I appear on the chart.

You can always have a good time with a Beatles song. They wrote some great tunes.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Adam Ant - Wonderful
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Broken Dock and Lily Pads

A photograph taken by my son, cropped and manipulated by myself.

I was thinking of warmer weather and came across this fine image. Taken last Autumn on Bald Eagle Lake, it was a warmer day than the frigid days of recent time.

Again using PhotoPaint I cropped and used KPT's Collection Pyramid Paint filter on it. I also upped the color saturation by 15 to boost the impact.

Obviously this dock is not in use anymore and it's peak along with the lily pads create movement of the eye around this image.

I have only done some writing of poetry recently, and with caregiving I haven't done any music lately. I did get an email from my brother and sister n law that I shared Redeye Blues with and they both like the CD. So I am happy about that. Not much fun to make music and not share it with someone.

I have found a couple of songs I would like to record. Cats in The Cradle by Harry Chapin, One After 909 by the Beatles. I need to practice them some more before I record them when I have some time. Also I am looking at some other Beatles songs.

I hope to write some new tunes as well but they sometimes come hard, whereas other times inspired. Those are the ones most fun - inspired - they seem to just come to you from that place that songs come from. Usually quick and pretty good, they come to you at various times but you don't know when. So they are a great experience, they just are there! And you are like a vehicle for the song flowing out.

I am going to share my other CD's with my brother and his wife, Beginnings and Fifth Time Around next. I hope for more positive feedback from them! I have shared them with my daughter and son and their mates, but haven't had any feedback just yet. We will see. They grew up with my playing the guitar sometimes as they were getting ready for bed, I would play and sing. I like to think that those are good memories for my children who are all grown now and married. Certainly good memories for me.

Centered Peaks

I worked on a Cover of the Beatles "Norwegian Wood"; I found in an older Guitar magazine "Acoustic Guitar". Using the Toneport UX1 and a drum track that I slowed down in Audacity I sang a dual vocal and played the 12-string. I used a guitar tone and style patterned after George Harrison for the rhythm guitar.

Try as hard as I did I still could not duplicate the Lead Guitar. It was beyond my capability for now anyway. So it is drums, rhythm guitar, first vocal, and second vocal. Singing is enjoyable and playing a classic song was really fun.

Gearbox allows so many choices that sometimes you have to be selective in order to get a balanced sound. Making covers of Beatles' songs is really fun as you add your own style to it.

I also wanted to share another one of my manipulated photographs from Alaska. I used Corel's PhotoPaint and KPT'c Collection Pyramid Paint filter. I upped the saturation a bit and lightened up the gamma slightly. I also had cropped out a fence in the right had corner which made for a better overall image.