"White Bicycle with Flowers in a Field" PicsArt App Plus

White Bicycle with Flowers in a Field

I have been garnering some photographs from various sources, and unfortunately, I did not keep track of the sources. This image was started on my Tablet in the PicsArt App. I applied a few different filters. First, I used the Artistic Watercolor filter increasing the color a bit. I also used the Fx filter HDR1 for that sharpness on the White Bicycle and Flowers. I added my name and year with the Text tools. I saved that large image, and it backed up to my Google Photos.

I downloaded the image to my computer. Opening in Paint.NET,  I adjusted the Saturation to 110. Then I used the Curves tool to add color depth to the piece. I saved this iteration.

Opening in Corel PhotoPaint, I resampled the image. 120dpi 1220 X 813 pixels, I saved as an Optimized JPG with 75 compression, and 25 smoothing.

I enjoy using the PicsArt App on my Tablet and combining the image creation with programs on my computer.

"Cup and Teapot" PaintDotNET

Cup and Teapot

A new photograph from Unsplash, free to edit. This one caught my eye. I like the full reddish color of the Cup and Teapot sitting on the checkered towel.

I brought the file into Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch Artistic tool. I upped the color and lowered the pen size. I then went to Adjustments, Curves RGB, increasing the depth a bit. I also increased the Saturation to boost the colors to 110.

I went to Effects Photo for Sharpening the image as it has such great depth of field, I wanted the subject to stand out a bit more.

I saved the large iteration after adding my name and the year, with the text tool. I then re-sized the image for display at 72dpi, 1220 X 813 pixels and used 75 for compression. I saved that display size.

"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.

"Angle Knight" Corel - Rust Texture

Angle Knight with Paint Peeled Rust

A Pen and Ink Drawing from my Journals coupled with a Paint Peeling Rust Texture. I entitled it. "Angle Knight."

I used Corel PhotoPaint to layer these two images, one of a freehand fictional Knight with a rust texture. I applied the Knight over the rust texture and cropped to fit. I used the property Multiply for the Knight. I also used PhotoPaint's Tone Curve for depth to the color.

I saved the iteration after adding my signature in white. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and used the Saturation Vibrancy for more punch to the color. I added some Image Information, title Artist, Copyright information, etc. I saved that iteration. The largest I worked upon was the size needed to display so I saved it and posted here for today.

"Simply Orchid - Rust Textured" Corel - Textured

Simply Orchid - Rust Textured

"Simply Orchid - Rust Textured," is a Journal entry of an Orchid done freehand out of my imagination. I opened the file with Corel PhotoPaint and cropped it a tad. I used the Tone Curve on it to boost the depth and colors of this floral.

I searched my external drive Rust Textures folder and found a yellow paint and rust texture. I layered this onto the Orchid image. I applied the property Multiply, and adjusted the Opacity to 80. I merged both the layers and added my signature in white saving the larger iteration. I then resampled for display.

"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!

"Textured Blue Eyed Young Man Portrait" Corel - Mayang's Textures

Blue Eyed Young Man

Another of my Journal entries updated with Mayang's Textures. I am continuing to seek these freehand images, done in Pen and Ink and Pastels and adding texture to them. I have a few really nice ones as I have been displaying in my most recent posts.

I select the Journal scanned in image, then search for an appropriate texture from Mayang's Textures and layer them. I first boosted the color of the Young Man's Portrait using Corel PhotoPaint's Tone Curve. I then selected the texture, this time a stony texture that I rotated and layered over the scan. I used the property Multiply and reduced the opacity a touch for the texture, to allow details show through.

I merged the layers, saved the large iteration with my signature and resampled for display here.

For the middle of my day I participated in an HOA "Let's Talk About It." hosted by +George Miller. We talked a bit about art and music and how being creative can help those experiencing depression. We differed in a discussion about which guitar was harder to play the 12-String or a 6-String guitar. I feel that the 6-string is harder as you must be very accurate in finger placement. But On a 12-string you have other strings as a "backup" if you happen to play a slightly sloppy chord. Two others disagreed with me.

It was stated that the 12-String Guitars strengthen your hand as you are playing twice as many strings. I could not disagree with that.

Practice is what is very important with any musical instrument or the creating of art works, traditional or digital. So practice was agreed upon.

"Blonde and Green Haired Young Man Portrait" Corel PhotoPaint - Mayang's Textures

Blonde and Green Haired Young Man Portrait

A companion for my last Portrait Post the "Blonde and Green Haired Young Woman," is also a fictional portrait from one of my Journals. It followed closely behind the woman's image. It is a Pen and Ink and Pastels freehand drawing of a "Blonde and Green Haired Young Man Portrait."

I again searched for a Mayang's Texture on my external drive and found a pleasing rubble like one. I opened it in Corel PhotoPaint and cropped it to a slightly smaller, yet still fairly large size. I then took the image of the Young Man and layered it with the property of Multiply to allow the Texture to show through. Many Thanks again to Mayang's Textures for such good images to work with. This technique discarded the note and date of the Texture file and allowed me to set these.

I merged the layers, saved the large iteration and resampled for display, including my signature.

I had just finished re-stringing my Seagull C12 12-String Guitar with some Martin SP Phosphor Bronze Extra Light strings. It sounds great! I love new strings I usually use D'adarrio Light gauge strings but I do like these Martins. A slightly brighter sound to them with plenty of sustain, wonderful for the open chords I use so much. Time for more Guitar Practice!

"Portrait of a Blonde and Green Haired Young Woman" Corel - Mayang's Textures

Blonde and Green Haired Portrait

From one of my Journals I garnered this Portrait of a Blonde and Green Haired Young Woman, Scanned in at as large as I could get the image, I then went to my external drive and searched for a Mayang's Texture. I found a peeling paint with rust texture and layered it with the scan. I used the property of Subtract to merge these with the texture showing through.

The original was done with Pen and Ink, and Pastels, freehand. A fictional woman's portrait. I did only a small bit of work on this piece digitally. I added the texture, even when I saved it, it show's a note and origin date from Mayang's Textures. So this image's digital date is from 2005! Not, I just put it together this evening. I used Corel PhotoPaint to create the digital image. I resampled the large iteration, after saving it, to display size. Adding my Signature to it despite the Mayang's Texture note and date of creation. Honest!

I truly appreciate Mayang's Textures and their willingness to share, but am chagrined at the notation and the lack of the proper creation date of this digital image. I will have to experiment with their textures more and make certain the date and credit is correct for future images. I am now using Windows 7 and perhaps this is something new.

"1,150th Post - Retrospective of my Digital Visual Artworks!"

Mr. E. Beatle

Laurie Eskimo

Perceive

Abstract Digital Visual Art

Freehand Circa 1995 Scanned 

These images will complete my Current Retrospective of Archived Digital Visual Artworks. I have shared from 1987 up to circa 1999 images from the archives I rediscovered recently.

All were done with some digital painting or manipulation of some sort. The processes used then are in most cases are not remembered. Some begin as photographs, some freehand drawings scanned in using various scanners.

I am certain I still use some of these processes, but with different programs and different computers come differing styles and images.

I hope that some of you have enjoyed the Retrospective of my Digital Visual Artworks!

Also this is my 1,150th Post to gatzkART! and we are rapidly approaching 121,000 plus Pageviews, a feat that brings excitement to my small offerings on the Internet.

"1990 Circa Digital Visual Art - Retrospective"

Foliage and Woman

Young Woman

I am still getting my PC back to health with an OS upgrade and driver compatibility issues. So I am sharing some of my earlier Circa 1990's Digital Visual Artworks.

"Foliage and Woman," is full of computer color. A beautiful face along with the surrounding florals and leaves. This was probably done with Corel PhotoPaint (an early version.)

"Young Woman," was also done in PhotoPaint with Tinting and softening. I remember taking this photograph of the young lady so long ago. A contemplative expression that I see as delightful. Her Mother was suffering from Cancer at the time and it shows in her countenance. Since then her Mother has been "in remission," up to this day, after surgery, chemo, and radiation. Last time I saw this gal she is a happy Mother herself now.

I am approaching the end of my sojourn through the OS upgrade and I will continue to share older works for a little longer. Please view it as a Retrospective of my early work. Thank You!

"Reviewing the Past in Digital Art - Circa 1990's"

Freehand Drawn - Computer Colored

Freehand Plus KPT Collection

Scanned in Dot Matrix Printout

Again I have displayed some "Vintage" circa 1990 and earlier Digital Artworks. I am Sharing these as I update my PC and OS. Less time for creating newer images.

All of these have some freehand drawing to them, fictional women in bright color or Dot Matrix printout form. Some come from Journals I kept and then scanned in to manipulate in computer programs.

Not much time today to explain workflow, most of which is forgotten anyway! I am pretty certain I used some version of Corel Products for the color images. That's about it.

When I get more time I will probably begin creating New Works for your enjoyment, until then Old times are rolling!

"Vintage Circa 1990's Digital Visual Artworks" Corel

Azuretai Abstract

Abstract Floral

Brown Face

Here are three more (what I call Vintage,) Digital Visual Artworks. Azuretai is a Vector graphic Abstract done in an older version of CorelDRAW. It was enlarged to a JPG format and lost it's clean straight lines and gradients. But I is still an interesting early vector abstract.

The Abstract Floral is based upon a freehand image that was scanned in and manipulated in Corel PhotoPaint. I love the computer colors used to add punch to this image.

Brown Face was done using a Wacom tablet and pen on the computer freehand. The image was small and enlarged and softened.

All images were put through Corel PSP Pro X3 for cleaning of Digital Noise and JPG artifacts and moire patterns.

I am enjoying sharing these older and colorful images, they represent my early Digital Visual Artwork.

"More Archived Digital Visual Artworks" Circa 1990's

Three Guys

Old 3D Abstract

I am fairly certain I used Corel PhotoPaint for the Three Guys image with a scanned in Art Deco matte. Done circa 1998. I took a photograph of them standing in front of a store with a stylish phone booth near by. I cropped the image to focus on the young men. I used various tools to get the painterly look and feel.

The second image, Old 3D Abstract was donw with an older 3D fractal creation program which no longer exists. I also used PhotoPaint to make adjustments and this appears to be circa 1996.

I have more Archived images to share as I move forward in time with my Windows 7 32-bit install.

"Grunge Women Portraits Three Images" Corel PhotoPaint

Triple Play

Single Gal

Dual Flow

Shares and Comments and Pluses are welcome on all my "gatzkART!" Posts! Thank You! Always visit the blog for the images larger view.

I had a anxious day and could not sleep, so I did some Digital Visual Art. Searching my External HD I found some photographs of Women's Faces - portraits really.

I opened them in Corel PhotoPaint. Here I applied the Threshold tool to create black and white images. I adjusted the Threshold on each accordingly.

I have Guitars on my mind, as I listened to Blues on Pandora. So I took the White Spaces and holding down the Shift Key I selected as much of the white as I could.

I opened my window for selecting fills and chose differing wood fills for each face. I tripled the first, kept the middle one single and doubled the final one.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge on each image for texturing. I then saved each iteration as a large file and resampled for display size, after adding my signature in white.

A break from my Guitar motif, but with wood tones reminiscent of the solid backs of acoustic guitars.

Listening to Another Brick In The Wall, nice for creating different Digital Visual Art.

Artists in the Plus "In The Spotlight with Nicole Monroe" Picasa - Corel

In The Spotlight - Nicole Monroe

I missed the live show but caught it on YouTube. This Singer Songwriter can sing and play! I took a Picasa 3.9 full-screen capture and did some editing there.

I cropped the image to fit, and applied Warmify for color. I used the HDR tool with a slight radius and no fade. I then applied the Museum Matte framing to the image and saved it.

From Picasa I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 applying the Smart Photo Fix and boosted color. I used the Skin Smoothing tool and the Digital Camera Noise Removal tool as well. I added my signature and saved again. I then resized for display and saved that iteration.

If you, too, missed the live show, here is the link to YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIQdQQ3txiw#at=256

I want to apologize for not posting as often, Things have been busy this month! As I am certain it has been for others as well. Thank you for your patience.

"Myself and 12-String Self-Portrait - Ink" Corel - Paint.NET

Myself and 12-String Self-Portrait - Ink

I was working with my Logitech C260 Webcam today and snapped this Selfie. I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and adjusted with the Smart Photo Fix, some color and sharpening. I used the Skin Smoother on the image. The I added the frame and signature. I saved that iteration.

I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Effects Artistic Ink Sketch. Boosting the color a bit and increasing the Ink size to 70. This gave me the line work in the piece. I would say that the only thing I may have done different is the signature, as it has ink "artifacts" all around it. But not so many I am that concerned.

I still have my Seagull C12 tuned to Open G and will be trying other open tunings soon, perhaps today for a time of practice and fun.

I have found an Alt Tuning website at: http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/tuning/drop-c/ for alternate tunings, in this case Drop C. I love to experiment with making up chords from other tunings by sampling the sounds within the alternate ones. Or I even make up chords, and play scales by ear for the learning experience. It's a challenge I really enjoy on the guitar.

"Oil Painted Guitar Headstocks - Polar Inversion - Textured" Corel - Plus

Headstocks Polar Inversion
Click for more Detail

I took a photograph of a shot of two Guitar headstocks on a patterned pillow. I browsed to it in Picasa 3.9 and opened with Paint.NET.

I applied the Distort Polar Inversion with Clamp as the setting. I played around with the cursor setting, moving about the mini picture of the screen until I liked the image.

I then used the Effects Artistic Oil Paint and pushed the settings to the max. This resulted in fewer details and more textures. I saved the large iteration.

I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and used Filter Forge's Photo Effects plug-in Vibrancy to add some punch to the colors. I then applied the Texture Elephant Skin to the image, set at 48 / Black, for additional texture. I added my signature PNG and set it.

I saved it large again, Then for a lark I rotated the file 90% and resampled to display size.

"Dual Guitar Wrap" Paint.NET - Corel

Dual Guitar Wrap

I opened from Picasa 3.9 a Dual Guitar photograph with Paint.NET. There I applied the Effects, Distort, Polar Inversion to the image. I used the settings Wrap with the Quality set High.

I used the Adjustment tool Hue/Saturation and increased the Saturation a bit. Then I applied the Curves set to RGB and lightened the colors back slightly.

To Soften the tones I used Effects, Blurs, Surface Blurs on the image. I Then Sharpened the image with a setting of Seven.

The resulting image is a Kaleidoscopic style piece, which I saved the large iteration. As you peer into the center you kind of get lost in the fractal likeness of the guitars.

I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and using the Visible Watermark I added my signature, saving again, and resizing to display size and saved the final.

"My Seagull C12 built circa 1990" Still Playing! Corel - Plus

My Seagull C12 built circa 1990

A full length shot of my Seagull C12 Guitar built circa 1990, in it's case, taken with my Canon Rebel XTi. I browsed to it in Picasa 3.9 and opened with Corel PhotoPaint.

There I applied the Local Equalization tool for contrast, and adjusted the Tone Curve for color depth. I used the Art Strokes Watercolor on it for a painterly feel.

I then used Filter Forge's plugin Photo Effects for the Vibrancy, some punch to the native colors. Also from Filter Forge's Frames I added a slight Film frame. I added my signature in white and saved that large iteration.

I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and Fit to Screen. I upped the Color Vibrancy once again with the Saturation tool. I Then Added Image Information a title, the artist name and copyright information.

I have been so busy with my Grandson I haven't been playing my C12 much and I need to get back to it, possibly this evening. It's currently tuned in Open G for some fun improvising. I hope to find some time tonight!