Digital Watercolors Visual Art by Kirk Mathew Gatzka

"Bonamassa - Just Got Paid" HDR - Painter Essentials 5 Plus

Bonamassa - Just Got Paid

"Bonamassa - Just Got Paid," a screen capture from his performance was used for this piece. I am currently listening to quite a bit of Joe's Music and really like it. Bonamassa Website

I was in Picasa 3+ and I used the HDR tool on the capture. The Radius was medium and the strength was medium high. I also applied the Border tool for a Black and White Border. I saved this image with a new name.

I opened in Painter Essentials 5 and Digitally Painted it with the Oil Painting set, Digital Watercolor Dry Brushes. I then switched to the Illustration set and used the Chalk, Pastels, Crayons Soft Charcoal Brushes. I saved this under a new name.

I then used Paint.NET to add my Signature layer and resized , placed it with the property Additive. I merged the layers. Saving again as a JPG. I used the original bordered size of the piece for display.

All song names and the artist name are owned by Joe Bonamassa and his company. See the link above for more information about this Great Blues/Rock Singer/Songwriter/Performer. Thanks!

"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.

"Brown Haired, Green and Violet Eyed Young Woman" Corel - Mayang's Textures

Brown Haired Green and Violet Eyed  Young Woman

Yet another Pen and Ink and Pastel image of a Brown Haired, Green and Violet Eyed Young Woman. I am sharing these from my Journals of freehand drawings and poetry.

I used this scanned in drawing and layered it with one of Mayang's Textures, a eucalyptus tree bark texture, very mild and it adds to the overall image.

I used Corel PhotoPaint to layer the texture adjusting it's property to Multiply and it's opacity as well. The drawing I had applied the Tone Curve for a punch to the color and some depth.

Musically I have been having trouble with my Line 6 Toneport UX1 and my Fisher receiver/amp for recording. Last night I found the song "Killing the Blues," known by it's recording by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. I attempted to record it and got a fair take. I set my Gearbox software for the microphone to "Warm and Clean," so it was a little bassy for me. Next try I will use "Bright and Clean," to see if that makes a difference.

I exported it as an MP3 and it sounded a bit muddy. I am having a lot of trouble with the Gain on the Toneport, too low and nothing to record, too high and I get distortion in the background. It is so touchy since a power surge zapped my equipment. I still can get it to work though, I tried plugging the microphone directly into the computer's motherboard sound card and it was absolutely terrible! So I began to play with the Toneport, Gain, Volume, Gearbox settings, etc., again. I will find that balance some place in the settings!

I also am getting familiar with Win 7 32-bit's setting for recording and playback. It too is very touchy, but I hope it proves up to the task so I can record some Covers and possibly some new original songs.

Doing the recording helps me practice and see how I am doing in singing and guitar playing, Practice!

"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!

"Singers and Their Guitars" Colorful Grunge Digital Collage

Singers and Their Guitars

Returning to a Guitar based motif for a time I went for a colorful Digital Collage of Guitars and Singers. I browsed to Mayang's Textures and selected one that I auto painted in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 using the Illustration feature.

Saving that large file I opened from Picasa 3.9 with Corel PhotoPaint. Here I assembled my Digital Collage pieces. I browsed in Google for free images and found two guitar images and three singers. After saving them I copied from Picasa and pasted them onto the textured background. I resized each one to taste and applied the property of Difference. This created the colorfulness of the collage as they blended and mixed with each other.

I used Filter Forge's Frames Film frame for the large image. Added my signature in white and saved the large iteration. I resampled for display in PhotoPaint.

 Listening --- Eric Clapton --- Crossroads

"Grunge Cool Dude" Paint.NET - KPT Collection - Plus

Grunge Cool Dude

"Grunge Cool Dude," began as a trip to Dairy Queen for something cold, I garnered this photograph of my Grandson. I opened from Picasa 3.9 with Paint.NET. Here I cropped the photograph and applied the Ink Sketch feature to it. I copied to the clipboard. I opened Corel PhotoPaint and pasted as New from Clipboard.

I took that image and applied KPT Collection's Gradient, which gave me a blue background. I then pasted from the clipboard the photo image and used the property Multiply on it to let the gradient show through. I added my signature in white, merged all layers and added a blue border to the image using Image, Papersize, Centered 40 pixels.

I then used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge on the piece for texture. I applied a light effect so as to show as much of his face and sunglasses as I could. I saved the large file, then resampled for display.

"Guitar Head - I Am a Poor Rambling Boy" Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Guitar Head - I Am a Poor Rambling Boy

Using the Impressionist auto paint in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 with the brushstroke set at Swirly and the canvas set at Rough I created the background. I saved that and reopened with Corel PhotoPaint from Picasa 3.9. I cropped the background so as to see the brushstrokes.

Using Paint.NET I made the guitar player, minus head, into an ink sketch, and did the same with the 12-string. I resized both to fit and used the 12-string guitar as the head.

In Picasa I selected the music piece, "I Am a Poor Rambling Boy," reminiscent of a Blues tune and added it and the large pointing hand.

In PhotoPaint I used the property Multiply for the pieces and their transparency, merged them and I saved the cropped piece. I added a light blue border and resampled for display with my signature.

I went back into PhotoPaint and using the plugin Filter Forge's Frames added a light film frame to darken the blue border. I saved that file.

Listening --- Eric Clapton --- Unplugged

"Grunge Seagull S12 Cedar Guitar" Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Grunge Seagull S12 Cedar Guitar

Today I selected another blown glass floral photograph from Painter Talk Forum. I auto painted it using Detailed Watercolor in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4, as the background. I saved the file.

I took photographs of my "1990 Seagull S12 Cedar Guitar," and used the auto paint feature Illustration on one. Then I opened the other with Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch with full color.

Using Picasa 3.9 I opened the background with Corel PhotoPaint. There I copied and pasted the images of the guitars. On the Ink Sketch guitars I applied Effects, Creative, Alchemy which gave them a loose grunge feel. I duplicated the Illustrated guitars and placed them for a pleasant composition of repetition.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Frame for a grunge look and feel for the entire image. I boosted the background color depth a bit with the Tone Curve. I saved that iteration.

I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added some Vibrancy to the colors with Hue and Saturation. Saving the large file I resized for display after applying my signature with the Visible Watermark feature.

This guitar is my current instrument of choice for songwriting and jamming. I will even improvise Blues leads on it playing to backtracking MP3's in A minor and C major.

I am working on a new song I started last night called "Come To Terms." I have yet to work out melody and chord progression for it so I have some work ahead of me.

Maybe in the near future I will get an inexpensive but playable Electric guitar for improvising my leads and melodies.

Contemplating --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Come To Terms

"Grunge Electric Guitar 2" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Grunge Electric Guitar 2

I used similar techniques on today's image as I did on yesterdays. I chose a photograph of an Electric Guitar and applied Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 auto paint features to it. I first used the Pastels Hatch brush, then I applied the Simple Watercolor feature. I selected the Pen and Ink feature and drew in, by hand, the ink outlines and hatching.

Saving that file I opened in Corel Painter 11 and used the Apply Surface Texture to the image using Luminance. Saving that iteration I opened in Corel PhotoPaint and using Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge I gave it a grungy look and feel. I added my signature in white.

I saved that and reopened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and added a white mat with ragged edges and a black frame using Picture Frame. I resaved and reopened in PhotoPaint and used the Wand tool to select the white mat and added a color gradient with the Fill tool. I resampled for display and finished.

Listening --- Essential Blues --- Old Cassette Tapes Compilation

"Blue Study in Textures" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

"Blue Study in Textures"

Just a short post for today. This "Blue Study in Textures" is a combination of part of one of Mayang's Textures, A Dover Publication Cartoon, A view of a dilapidated barn, and a water-tower. And a grunge effect from Filter Forge's Photo Effects.

I have limited time for a more detailed explanation. I did construct this in Corel PhotoPaint using Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder on the photographs of the barn and water-tower.

It is a piece that needs a closer look for searching out the details and textures. Click on it for the larger view, use F11 to enlarge your browser screen. Enjoy your searching out the details.

Listening --- Laura Marling --- The Muse

"Acoustic Magazine No.5" Fake Cover - Corel PhotoPaint - Picasa 3.9

Acoustic Magazine No.5

Yesterday I worked on this piece. "Acoustic Magazine No.5," is another parody of a faked magazine cover. It is essentially a Digital Collage that pretends to be a magazine cover. I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to my Mayang's Textures folder for a background texture. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and began browsing for more pieces to make up this cover.

I used scanned in images from my Canon MP495 All in One. On the background I used the Tone Curve for depth and a bit of increased saturation. I copied, pasted, erased and placed the images. I gave the main guitar player Elvis Costello like glasses and eyes and added the shoulders to the arms and guitar.

I used bright colors as accents to the blue in the background for my text boxes. I used the fonts Bleeding Cowboys, and Arial, as well as one I believe was Avantgarde MdBt. I centered by eye and dragged the text to fit the box sizes for a elongated style.

Listening --- Otis Taylor --- Mexican Cowboy

"Blue Guitars" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - PSP Pro X3

Blue Guitars

Today's image is a Digital Collage of a texture from Mayang's Textures (of concrete,) two photographs of Gals playing Guitar, and two photographs of Guitars hung in display.

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 and found all the images with the exception of the texture which is newly downloaded as of yesterday. It is a densely packed collage with redundant guitar images and a Blue's color. I built the original image in Corel's PhotoPaint, but I also used Paint.NET for the Ink Sketch and Pencil Sketch tools.

After I amassed the collage to where I wanted it, I applied the blue tint to it in Picasa 3.9. I saved the file and opened with Corel's PSP Pro X3 adding a rough frame then adding the Cyan frame after that.

I added my signature and resampled for display in PhotoPaint.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- The A Shuffle

123AAA Video - Digital Visual Art and Blues Music - Picasa 3

This video no longer exists! Sorry!

"Acoustic Magazine No. 3" Fake Cover -Corel PhotoPaint

Acoustic Magazine No. 3

Digital Collage is great fun for a creative exercise, so I did another "Acoustic Magazine No. 3" for today's image. Old magazine tearings and cutouts were used and scanned in with my Canon MP495. I used Corel PhotoPaint to assemble the pieces scanned at 300 dpi.

I used the fonts I have previously used on these projects (please refer to the first "issue.") I saved the large file with my signature and then resampled for display here. I don't know if I will make anymore of these fake parody covers or not, I hope you enjoy the humor and the balancing of text phrases and images.

Listening --- Blind Blake --- West Coast Blues

"Acoustic Magazine" Fake Cover - Corel PhotoPaint

Acoustic Magazine Fake Cover

I chose a magazine motif for a creative activity this evening. I created a digital collage in Corel PhotoPaint. I found some images in old magazines and, after cutting them out,  scanned them in using my Canon MP495 All in one.

On the main face I added the eyes of a female singer and her lips on the Blues player wearing the hat, which were both cutouts as well. I applied the Image, Threshold bi-level, on the entire collage prior to adding any text.

I used the names of myself and two Guitar singer songwriters I met on the Acoustic Guitar Community. I also used the band name of the first band I was in in our senior year at high school for the exclusive interview. I added a blurb about using the free recording program Audacity. And using a bit of humor added the six-fingered Blues lesson.

The Fonts I used for the various text phrases were, Arial Narrow, Bleeding Cowboys, Abadi MT Condensed  Extra Bold and Berlin Sans FB. for a realistic touch I added the UPC code from a magazine blotting out the numbers on the code.

I saved the large file with my signature and resampled for display here.

Listening --- Cowboy Junkies --- Blue Guitar

6 - Note Scales - Art Nouveau - Grunge Collage - PhotoPaint

I enjoy collage and I like the Art Nouveau period, and I like grunge like effects. Using Picasa 3 I browsed my folders for some corresponding pieces.

I found a painted rust background for a beginning. A view of a young lady playing a guitar like instrument complete with Ex Libris, which I subsequently erased. A 12-string guitar and some 6- Note Scales in musical notation. Some of these came from my Dover Publications clipart collection.

I opened PhotoPaint and combined the individual pieces using the object property of Multiply for transparency, with the exception of the musical scales where I used Color Burn.

I did use Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder on the guitar image to reduce it to rough line art, altered it's angle and then added it to the background.

I added a sixty pixel white border then selected it with the wand. After that I applied the 3D Bevel feature to it creating a frame for the collaged image.


Listening --- Beck --- Bottle of Blues

Grunge Guitars - Gaussian Blur - Paint.NET -PhotoPaint

A return to a grunge guitar motif for today's image. I opened my Picasa 3 folder of Flaming Pear texture tiles and using the Collage feature created a collage of some of them. I selected the resulting collage and resampled it for a working size. I opened with PhotoPaint and applied the Tune Blur Gaussian blur to the textures. Then I made then into a Tritone and converted it back to RGB. I applied the Local Equalization to that for a high contrast background image.

I browsed to one of my guitar photograph folders and selected one of two guitars on an angle. I opened with Paint.NET and used the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> tool with the color turned down and the ink up a bit. I resized that to a size similar to the background I had in PhotoPaint. I copied it to the clipboard and pasted it on top of the tritone background. I sized to fit. I used Filter Forge's frames for a film frame.

I added some dripping paint splashes and the text to a fun, bluesy lyric entitled "Talk It Over." I added the basic blues chords E7 - A7 and B7 to the image as well. Here is the lyric:

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

You might find a good deal
Or you may buy a lemon
You might find a good deal
But think about it hey man

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Watch how your dollars spent
They gotta go as far as can be
Watch how your dollars spent
An make sure your honey agrees

If you don't watch your money
Someone else will be

If you don't watch your money, honey,
Someone else will be

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

It's OK to laugh at the lyrics, they are meant to be fun! As any married couple may know it takes two to make a budget and stick to it! So before that purchase, talk it over, can you really afford it? I hope you can.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Talk It Over
via FoxyTunes

Two Landscapes - Red Schoolhouse - Sunset - PhotoPaint - Paint.NET - Filter Forge - Flaming Pear

Two more Luminous Landscapes for today. The Red Schoolhouse was taken by my son, Keir M. Gatzka. I used PhotoPaint's Tone Curve for depth and increased the color saturation for boosting the color. I saved that large file and opened in Paint.NET to apply the Ink Sketch tool. I used the Kuwahara Filter Modified on it for a painterly look. Saving that I opened in Painter 8.

There I applied the Flaming Pear's Chromasolarize filter for a glow. I saved it again with a new name and reopened in PhotoPaint and applied the Filter Forge Grunge frame with the red grunge touch. I resampled it to display here and saved that file.

The second photograph was taken by a relative that wishes to remain anonymous for personal reasons, but I have family permission to enhance it. I kept this Sunset digital manipulation simple. I opened the scanned photograph in PhotoPaint and adjusted the Tone Curve, upped the saturation and added a film frame from Filter Forge. I resampled for sharing here. I had applied Tune Blur on it as well.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Talk It Over
via FoxyTunes

Eric Clapton - Before You Accuse Me

Eric Clapton
Tags:
Eric Clapton, MTV Music