"New Song on SoundCloud 'Come Along II' in Open G Tuning"

Seagull !2-String Guitar Open G Tuning

 Come Along II - I recommend headphones or a good set of speakers to listen to this song.

https://soundcloud.com/gatzka-music/come-along-ii

"Let's Talk About Music with 'Paul Platt' as Guest" Picasa - Corel - Plus

Paul Platt

I watched the broadcast on YouTube as I missed the live show while playing with my Grandson yesterday. I opened Picasa 3.9 and did a few screen capture's.

I manually cropped one capture. I then applied the Warmify tool and then the HDR tool in Picasa. I used the Boost feature for some punch to the colors, slightly lightened the standard setting as I have a lot of contrast in this image.

I added the Museum Matte frame with a warm color for the matte. All the while I worked on this I was enjoying the concert, listening as I created.

Paul Platt is one of my favorite Singer Songwriters that I have been introduced to on Google+. I really like his 'Storybridge,' song, it's smooth and mellow with a rhythm that takes you along with him on his musical travels.

You can catch the show here at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sEalpTvlOBY

Wait a little while till they get him full screen as they had some technical difficulties at first. Worth the wait!

"Multi-Guitars Revisited" Corel PSP Pro X3

Multi-Guitars Revisited

I was browsing in Picasa 3.9 through many folders and ran across this image from 2009. It is a composite of two photographs take with an older Digital Camera, our first. It was only a 5 mega pixel camera but took pretty good photographs, but was not sturdy at all and began to have parts fail after a short time. A lesson learned the hard way, buy as much quality that you can afford in a DSLR.

I opened this image in Corel PSP Pro X3 and resized it to a larger working size. I applied the Saturation Vibrance to it to punch up the colors for a fresh look. I then added the gold frame using the Picture Frame feature.

I kept the old copyright notice, as you can see, but it is an updated version of an oldie but goodie. I resized for display, and also added to the EXIF data upon the save.

988th Post to gatzkART!

I also posted my song "Wait Until Morning" to http://soundcloud.com/gatzka-music Come and have a listen, comments are always welcome. Acoustic Guitar Community  also has it posted there with other songs I've written.

"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

"Guitar Harp Player"

"Graffiti Building and Overpass" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Corel PSP Pro X3

Graffiti Building and Overpass

I was cleaning up my Hard Drive and came across some photographs not in my Picasa listed folders. I opened this one of the "Building and Overpass with Graffiti ," with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I auto-painted it using a Watercolor setting with color set to Intense. I saved the 300dpi file and reopened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

There I added a 50 pixel border and a Film frame then an Ornate Picture Frame. I saved that larger file and resized for display.

I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and added my signature and saved with a little more compression.

Listening --- Kenny Chesney --- Live Those Songs Again

"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!

"Steampunk Experiment II" Corel PhotoPaint

Steampunk Experiment II

I discovered this diamonds light grunge texture online, I love the colors. I opened it with Corel's PhotoPaint and went to Picasa 3 and browsed to my Leonardo folder for some diagrams and lettering. These are DaVinci drawings. I enlarged them and darkened them,after copying and pasting into the background, using the Tone Curve. I applied the property Color Burn to them each, lining them up. I then searched my Dover Publications sampler folder and found four more pieces to add to my Steampunk Theme. 

I used Color Burn on the flute players and Subtract on the car, I made the car smaller and lined it up with the DaVinci drawing. I added the harp player keeping the color. I feathered that piece. The Art Nouveau woman in the circle I added next shrinking it to size.

I like the DaVinci influence for Steampunk, adding his genius makes for a great image. The music themed images and the car don't fit at all until you add the Steampunk Theme.

I added a 70 pixel brown border and used Filter Forge's film frame to frame the piece. This was all to size from the beginning size of the background texture. (Adding 70 pixels made it slightly larger.) All in all not the largest image I've worked on. I completed it with my digital signature.

Listening --- Jethro Tull --- Thick as a Brick

Infographics of gatzkART! - Klout, mentionmapp, Google Analytics, Blogger Stats - Mashup

Grunge Mashup

All together

Current Klout Score

mentionmapp Map

Google Analytics

Blogger Stats

I've become rather fond of Infographics, so I am displaying statistics from differing locations all about my blog gatzkART! The first image is a mashup of all the stats done in PhotoPaint with a Mayang's Texture grunge background.

I grouped them together in CorelDRAW and displayed them next in line. Then I shared the individual stats from each source. All these sources are available to the blogger and twitter online at their named locations. I find them useful and great fun to help me know where my blog is statistically at any given time.

I don't think anyone can find the bridge today.

49 West Ed & Patrick (Sparks & Raymond) - Painter 11 - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

Click for Larger Image

My Musician friend Edward Sparks shared this photograph with me of a performance at 49 West in Annapolis. He and a friend performing here made for a great image. After I got permission from Edward I saved the photograph and opened with PhotoPaint to resample it to 96dpi which gave me a larger file to work with. I sharpened the image with a Directional Sharpen and saved the larger file.

I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> for a bit of pen and ink look and feel. I upped the color all the way and backed down the ink. Saving the image I opened with Painter 11 and created a quick clone with a white background. I began with the Straight Cloner brush and painted in Edward and Patrick only. Then I selected the Artist's Auto Van Gogh and with the lone button selected began painting in the background with that brush.

I then selected the Smeary Bristle Clone brush and added some color around the two of them and painted in the bass guitar and banjo. I added some details from the photographs background. The next brush I chose was one of Skip's Digital Watercolors and added a bit more detail allowing the Van Gogh brushwork to show through.

Selecting another digital watercolor brush from Skip's I used the eyedropper to select the blue color to add to the right hand sides large window. This was a finishing touch for this image, it really balanced the composition out color wise.

I saved the file again under a differing iteration. Opening In PhotoPaint I resampled the file for display online and added my signature.

I want to thank Edward for this opportunity to paint this image.

Listening --- Edward Sparks --- No Perfect People Allowed

Karaoke Party Digital Collage - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

Click for Larger Image

The end of the month was good as we headed over to some friends home for a Karaoke Party. I took my Canon Rebel XTi and took some photographs of the some participants of the evening time gathering.

I used Picasa 3 to locate my folder of these photographs and selected them one by one. I opened with PhotoPaint and created individual High Contrast images with film frames.

The workflow I have described before. I used Local Equalization on each. Then I applied the Tone Curve to them. I upped the saturation for a punchy color on each. I used Filter Forge's film frame and added my signature.

I saved each one as a large file then resampled them down. I selected, using Ctrl click on each of the larger images. I chose only a few for a Picasa 3 Digital Collage which was a very large file that I resampled for display here.

Needless to say we had a great time singing and sharing songs from a large selection of choices and styles. Even the ones without great singing voices participated and we really enjoyed our evening.

Listening --- Neil Young --- Old Man

Mayang's Textures - Dover Clip Art - Closed Shutters

Equipped with a stone wall and shutters texture from Mayang's Texture and some clip art from Dover Publications this image was created. I opened the texture with PhotoPaint and applied the Tone Curve for depth and increased the saturation by 15 for a color boost. I did want to keep the basic structure visible as it holds interest of it's own.

I browsed in Picasa 3 to my Dover Publications folder for some clip art to enhance the Shutters and the over all piece. I carefully selected some images that would make the shutters look decorated, and "hung" a couple of iron pieces at either side of the shutters.

Finding an Art Nouveau like black frame I pasted it and stretched it to fit the image. I saved the large file and then using Image> Resample> I saved a smaller size for display on the web.

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Now playing: Led Zeppelin - The Immigrant Song
via FoxyTunes

Waiting for a Guitarist - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

"Waiting for a Guitarist," is another High Contrast image from a photograph taken at Motor City Guitar. At the store people are encouraged to try out the various instruments and well as encouraged to engage in learning how to play. Those that don't know what they are looking for in a guitar or other stringed instrument can browse and play and search out the best instrument for their needs.

I used PhotoPaint and Filter Forge again today for this piece of a single electric guitar, along with it's stool for sitting and amp for playing. I used many of the techniques recently described in other posts of high contrast images.

I am fascinated by this motif and I keep coming back to it as I do with the using of Mayang's Textures along with guitars. A grunge look and feel with detail.

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Now playing: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Wooden Ships
via FoxyTunes

World of Motor City Guitar - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

Motor City Guitar in Waterford, Michigan is a great place to shop for guitars, drums, amps, and all types of accessories. This is another of my series of High contrast images using photographs from there.

Here you see depicted a variety of guitars and equipment in a single aisle. I cropped, then copied, the photograph just a bit in PhotoPaint and pasted from the clipboard to a new image.

I applied the Local Equalization tool for high contrasts and then used the Tone Curve for depth. Using Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance I boosted the color significantly. I saved the large file after adding a film frame from Filter Forge and my signature.

I resampled the image in PhotoPaint for sharing here. I enjoy the motif of guitars and equipment in these high contrast, high color images. I hope you do as well.

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Now playing: Thirty Eight Special - Rock & Roll Strategy
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

Grunge Guitars - Ink - Mayang's Texture - PhotoPaint - Filter Forge

I took a photograph of some acoustic guitars taken at Motor City Guitars and worked up a grunge image. I opened in Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch tool with low color and a higher ink setting. Saving that file I opened in PhotoPaint.

There I cropped the image to focus on the bodies of the guitars. I browsed to my Mayang's Textures folder in Picasa 3 and selected a rust texture. This I also cropped in PhotoPaint.

I copied the guitars to the clipboard and pasted and resized them to fit the crop of the texture. I used the Tone Curve for depth and upped the saturation of the colors.

I wanted to add some interest so I browsed to my Dover Publications Clip Art folder in Picasa 3 and selected some clip art to add. I used the object property Color Burn to make the white backgrounds transparent and adjusted the size where necessary.

I duplicated one of the designs and placed them in a row. I added a border design to the left side and another design to the body of the second guitar.

The size of the cropped file was display ready so I saved the file with a Filter Forge film frame.

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Now playing: Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion
via FoxyTunes

Vintage Tintype - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

I enjoy Vintage art and here is an old tintype style photograph that I used today to be creative with it in a digital form. I opened the tintype in PhotoPaint and enlarged it I then saved that file.

In Paint.NET I used the Adjustments> Curves> to Lighten the photo and then applied Effects> Artistic> Pencil Sketch> with the pencil size increased and the range increased. I also applied the Ink Sketch filter there. I saved that file and reopened it in PhotoPaint.

There I browsed my Mayangs Textures for a brightly colored paint with rust background and cropped out a portion for the background. I then went back to the tintype and created a tritone for the brownish look and feel of an engraving and ink. I copied it to the clipboard and pasted it into the background. I applied the object property Multiply for transparency.

I browsed my Dover Publications Clip Art and found a stained glass piece. I copied and pasted that using the Multiply setting and enlarged it to fit the other half of the image. I merged all objects to the background.

Using Filter Forge's frames I applied a variant of the simple frames with curved corners. I applied the wand to the off color I chose to recolor it with Yellow to match the background. With the mask still applied I used Effects> Textures> Plastic> for a shadowed appearance. Then I used a film frame to complete the image.

Credit for the tintype photograph goes to Elderly Instruments.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Lil' Miss Lillian Decides
via FoxyTunes

Grunge Guitars - Baby Blue Texture - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

Digital Collage with a Grunge flavor and Guitar motif is today's image. It is a return to one of my favorite motifs grunge guitars. I took a selection of a large texture file with baby blue paint and gray / white paint from Mayang's Textures. I opened it in PhotoPaint and using it as a background I applied the Tone Curve for depth, leaving the saturation alone for a change.

I opened a dual guitar photograph taken by myself, in Paint.NET. Here I applied the Effects> Artistic> Pencil Sketch filter using a larger pencil point for the sketch.

I copied this to the clipboard and pasted it into the background layer in PhotoPaint, using the object property Color Burn I merged it into the image. I then added a snippet of guitar chords and lyrics from my song "Better Left Unsaid." Also adding some paint splatters and drippings.

Using Filter Forge's Freepack 3 for film frames I first added blue borders and subsequent two film frames to the image.

For easier reading here is the snippet of chords and lyrics I used in today's image:

"Better Left Unsaid"

A Bm C#m D
We're looking on the bright side
A Bm C#m D
Brushing it off the shoulders
A Bm C#m D
Feeling like a million dollars
A Bm C#m D
Are you jealous? Do you smolder?
E E7

Chorus

F#m C#m
I call that inappropriate
F#m C#m
For two many reasons
F#m C#m
Never been a better time
F#m C#m
Link to the past lessons
G E
But some thing's are best left unsaid
G E E7
Rumors get ever widespread.

The song can be heard at my link to My Page at the Acoustic Guitar Community on the right side of the blog. It is listed first on that page in the player on My Page. You are welcome to go and listen to it if you so desire.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Better Left Unsaid
via FoxyTunes

Wine Shopping - Flaming Pear's Zombie - Painter 8

Looking for a focal point is some-
times a chal-
lenge. But this photograph, taken by my son Keir M. Gatzka, was a no-brainer. The focal point was clearly the wine bottles on sale.

I kept this image very simple as I found that, in Painter 8, Flaming Pear's Zombie filter to be an adequate one time filter. It created a black and white image with much grain and a vignette of gray.

I added framing using Filter Forge's Freepack 3 again, using a dual film frame. As you know it is one of my favorite frame selections in the Freepack.

So nothing fancy or technically difficult to produce this piece. But I really like the resulting focal point and the grain of this image. Hope you like it as well.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Use It Or Lose It 2
via FoxyTunes