"Now On Sale At CDBaby = Open Secret" - CDBaby

See shopping cart to your right ->

I've finally done it I have placed one of my Original Songs up for sale on CDBaby.com! Please see the shopping cart on the right hand side of this post.

I am quite excited to offer this song for sale. It is an intimate tune for those that are in a relationship without any secrets. It was once said that this song "has a honest quality to it." It isn't easy to be this open in any relationship, but communication is one of the most important parts of one.

Please consider buying this song. I am very proud to offer it as my First Single on CDBaby!

I thought that you might want to read the lyrics:

Open Secret ©2014 Kirk Mathew Gatzka

It's an open secret

It's a big idea

Nobody knows it better

Than you

It's an open secret

That I'm trying to endure

Nobody knows it better

Than you

Time to see clearly

When I'm being obscure

That you can freely

Read me

Something's are well known

Everything is not

But what's to disown

When nothin' is what you got

I've got to grow up

Time to take on what's tough

Even though I know it's rough

I think I've had enough

    

It's an open secret

It's a big idea

Nobody knows it better

Than you

It's an open secret

That I'm trying to endure

Nobody knows it better

Than you

  

It's an open secret

It's an open secret

It's an open secret

It's an open secret

It's an open secret

Thank you to all who have listened to it on SoundCloud, Now you can own your own copy! Click on the Cart to purchase at $0.99! Visit my CDBaby page Here

"Grunge 78 Travis Bean Artist Guitar" Corel PhotoPaint - Filter Forge - Plus

78 Travis Bean Artist Guitar

"Grunge 74 Travis Bean Artist Guitar," also taken from the Guitar Photographer site mentioned in my last post with link. I created this grunge image using both Corel PSP Pro X3 and Corel PhotoPaint along with Filter Forge's Photo Effects and Frames.

I had much to do today so this post is very short with little explanation of the workflow. I am still working towards the goal of 1,000 posts for gatzkART!, 957 and counting.

"Pushing 1,000 Posts!" Join Me As I Move to That Goal!

Pushing 1,000 Posts!

Today I am bragging a bit as I posted my 950th post recently and am now Pushing 1,000 Posts! I invite you to follow my trip to the 1,000 Posts mark as I continue to work on Digital Visual Art and Music.


I took this brick wall texture and added my words using 123Impact font. I again was working in Corel PhotoPaint. I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance for a bit of punch to the color and the Tone Curve for depth.

To add to the effects I used Picasa 3.9's HDRish feature lightly for more texture.

Thanks for following to those of you who have been doing so. And I invite new followers who enjoy Digital Visual Art and Photography.

I am on Google+ now as +Kirk Mathew Gatzka and you can follow me there as well.

Listening to the Afternoon News on TV.

Colasanti's Landscape - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

A photograph of Colasanti's Picnic Area with geese and bridge, complete with picnic table is today's subject. I had taken many differing photographs of our visit to Colasanti's from about a year ago and browsing in Picasa 3 I ran across this one. I like the stone walls and the bridge as well as the setting.

I opened with PhotoPaint and went for that vibrant deep image look and feel. Using Local Equalization and the Tone Curve for depth, I upped the saturation by 15, I also added vibrancy with Filter Forge's Photo Effects. I have found this process produces some HDR like photographs, which is nice as I don't use Photoshop or Lightroom for doing my digital visual art.

So we have a landscape for today instead of the grunge guitar motif I have been sharing lately. A nice break in the flow.

----------------
Now playing: Cat Stevens - Morning Has Broken
via FoxyTunes

Quadtone - Grunge - High Contrast - PhotoPaint

I cropped this photograph to focus on my Grandson. I used PhotoPaint to create this quadtone high contrast image. I applied local equalization, Filter Forge's Photo Effects Sepia. I adjusted the image to a quadtone and changed the color to a Pantone purple.

I also applied Filter Forge's film frame for the dark frame that set well with the high contrast view.

I haven't had time to do much painting digitally so I have spent time doing these high contrast images for my creative outlet.

Here my Grandson is holding a container of his hand food that he likes. I like the small smile he has in this piece as well. He has a great disposition for fourteen months old and is now walking around on his own. A brag image for myself and my wife.

----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - I Walked Along the Lakes Song
via FoxyTunes

Who is That in the Mirror? - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

I couldn't resist manipu-
lating this photo-
graph of my Grand-
son in his Giraffe costume. A follow up after yesterday's image.

Here he is gazing into the large mirror trying to figure out what he sees. He even reaches out to touch himself.

I did a slight manipulation on the original photograph taken by my Daughter. In PhotoPaint I cropped it to focus on the action and leave out uninteresting details. I saved the file after re-sampling it and opened it in Paint.NET.

There I applied the Ink Sketch filter highlighting the color and minimizing the ink. I saved it again and reopened in PhotoPaint.

Now I altered the Tone Curve to darken it and give some depth, also I upped the saturation for bolder color. I added a film frame in Filter Forge's Freepack3. Added a brown border and applied another film frame for a double frame.


----------------
Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - A Bm C#m D Run
via FoxyTunes

Grandson in Autumn Colors - Painter 8 - PhotoPaint

Visiting with my Grandson always garners me a few nice photo-
graphs of him. I really enjoyed my time spent in Painter 8 doing a painting based upon one of the photographs I took yesterday.

I used the Chalk Tapered Chalk brushes for the muck up of the image. I varied the size of the brushes and completed that. I then switched to the Soft Cloner brush for detail of the eyes, nose, mouth, etc.

I opened a new Watercolor layer and used differing watercolor brushes for the background with light to dark bringing in the browns and oranges from the shirt and hair. I also used the straight cloner brush for the monkey and some other details on his arms and hands, fingers.

I liked the angle he was sitting in, in this photograph so I selected this one to paint and portray Autumn colors. I also used PhotoPaint and Filter Forge's watercolor frame with a light orange tint. Here is Zeke.

Abstract Guitar Collage

Sometimes it is enjoyable to look at things through different viewpoints. This Collage was done in PhotoPaint quite a while ago. I did a lot of cutting and pasting, very intuitively. I don't recall all the steps I took but I do like the end result. A rather mysterious look into the guitar as motif.

I did practice and sing yesterday. But while I was recording a particular song with some high notes my voice cracked, just before the end of the track. As I record my songs live I will have to correct that by re-recording the whole song. But the tempo was better and closer to the original song I am doing the cover of. So I need to be careful of those high notes.

I still feel like I am in a slump as far as songwriting goes. I haven't had any new ideas or poetry or lyrics, nary a chord progression to be found. I am waiting to snap out of it. And I know that it will happen soon, it is just a matter of time and patience.

Any one who knows of some exercises to get out of a slump can shoot me some pointers, I would appreciated it. Maybe a trip to the library or a book store would help. I have been contemplating that as one way. Libraries are filled with ideas, and book stores also carry music books for the encumbered.

I will be out of this soon I can feel it!

Blog Promoting

Just added my blog to Globe of Blogs. Click on image to go there. Or if that link doesn't work Google them!

I added the link to the text as the image link did not work.

I added a link at: Blog Search Engine also.

Blog RSS promotion is a challenge. There are many sites that will promote your blog for a price, but if your budget is tight you need to promote yourself. It takes time but is well worth the effort. What is a blog without some readers? Just taking up space on the web.

If you like my blog thus far, please pass on the word that it is online and I will continue to do my best to make it an interesting and informative one. I welcome comments as well as truly appreciate the readers and visitors I have had thus far. So come often and browse my efforts at presenting Digital Visual Art and Music Discussions. Thanks!
----------------
Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Norwegian Wood Cover
via FoxyTunes