"Spring Floral Textured May 2009" Missed Spring Michigan - Corel

Spring Floral Textured May 2009

I was looking for some Spring photographs on my external drive. I located this photograph of a neighbors bush in full bloom from May of 2009. In Michigan, this Spring we had so much rain that we missed many of our blossoms. Thus an older photograph.

I opened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and applied the Smart Photo Fix tool. Then I used the Saturation Vibrancy tool for increased color for the blossoms and the cloudy blue sky. I also used the Curves to add depth to the colors.

To add a bit of interest I added a Canvas Texture to the image, right in PSP Pro. I resized the iteration, after saving the large one I added my signature in white, to fit here in the post. Remember to click on the image for the large view.

We now have a lot of Green coming out in our area of Michigan, some days have been warmer, but a number of cooler days have dominated our Spring Time.

I sit here hoping for sunny skies this weekend. Listening to Blues on Pandora. Suits my mood nicely.

"Art Deco Arched Panel with Woman and Man" - Corel

Art Deco Arched Panel with Woman and Man

I selected another Art Deco Panel this one with Arches and added a few pieces to create this Digital Collage. I scanned in the panel from Art Deco Interior and Panel Designs by Stephen Calloway.

I then researched my Dover Publications Samplers images for a Woman and Man, to which I added Florals. I did all this in Corel PhotoPaint, dropping in the images and erasing the surrounding backgrounds. I applied to the scan and the images the Tone Curve for depth to the colors. I placed a black design in the upper center of the piece for additional interest.

With the Florals I used the Tone Curve and then the property Multiply for transparency. For each piece used I had to resize to fit the large 7" x 11" scan appropriately. I saved the large iteration and resampled it to display size. I then used Filter Forge's Photo Effects for Vibrancy Saturation, to add punch to the colors. Then I added a thin Film Frame using Filter Forge's Frames. I added my signature and saved the display size image.

I really like the images in the Arches of the Woman being served wine, and the Woman dancing to the Guitar Player. This is what attracted me to this Panel for the Digital Collage, along with the coloring.

"Garden Lady Colored Pencils" Corel - Canon

Garden Lady Colored Pencils

My son was rearranging a closet for us and found a case with some of my older Freehand Drawings and Paintings. "Garden Lady," is one of those. I got out my Canon Rebel XTi and took some photographs of the artworks. This one is the first one I worked on for display here.

I copied my Medium sized photographs to the Hard Drive and viewed them, deleting a few that were very poor quality (operator error.) I opened "Garden Lady," in Corel PSP Pro X3. I did some cropping, and used Saturation Vibrancy and Color Curves on the photograph. I imported my signature PNG file, which unfortunately it had some pixelization to it.

I added a Polaroid frame and a border to the image. I saved the iteration with Image Information including Copyright, Title, Artist. I then resized for sharing here.

I have a few other images to share in subsequent posts.

"Yellow and Purple Lilies Texture." Corel - Mayang's Textures

Yellow and Purple Lilies Texture

One more Journal image, a freehand Drawing in Pen and Ink and Oil Pastels. "Yellow and Purple Lilies Texture."

I used a Mayang's Texture of glass cubes much like ice cubes strewn about, to add the texture to this image. I used Picasa 3.9 to open with Corel PhotoPaint and cropped the floral there. I Then used the layer property multiply with an opacity of 50% for the Textured Glass fragments.

I added my signature and saved that iteration. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I used the Saturation Vibrancy to add punch to the colors. I added Image information: Title, Artist, Copyright, etc. I then resized for display here.

I will be searching some of my other Journals for additional inspiration to share here. I am going to talk with my son, the experimental photographer, to take some photographs of my guitar for future guitar based images, soon.