"Woman and Blossoms Watercolor Collage" Corel

Woman and Blossoms

Two freebie photographs from Morguefile were used to create today's piece. I opened the Blossoms photograph in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. There I used the Detailed Watercolor setting for auto painting.

I saved the Watercolor image and reopened it in Corel PhotoPaint. I opened also the Womans Portrait in PhotoPaint. I layered the Woman over the Blossoms with Add as the property. As she was Sepia toned this gave her some transparency. I then used the Flip Horizontally tool on the blossoms and the woman.

I grabbed the eraser tool and erased around the Womans Face to get rid of white and dark areas I did not want. I did this with some abandon to add some abstraction to the piece. I took the Womans Face and fit it near the fork of the branch on the lower right-hand corner.

Since Spring is almost here in Michigan, I wanted to create a floral image, with a Womans Portrait.

Please have a listen to my latest release "Collision Warning," the second in a series following "Blind Guide." It cost nothing to listen - Click on the Play button to the Right to hear it. The third single is to follow later this month. Time when one is called to account for one's actions, to pay one's debts or to fulfill one's promises or obligations, is the basis of the coming release.

Watch for it. Remember to Scroll down to my CDBaby Store and listen to any of my singles released thus far. Most of them are only four minutes long, not taking up too much time to listen to. Enjoy!

"Redhead with Flowers Textured" Paint.NET - Corel

Redhead with Flowers Textured

Another Portrait from MorgueFile and a Free Texture Friday from StockVault. I opened the Redhead with Flowers in Paint.NET as a layer. Then I searched for a recent Texture and found one I liked. I opened that also in Paint.NET and copied to the clipboard, pasting it as a new layer over the Portrait.

I adjusted the Texture trying differing layer properties and finally found one and I texture blended the layer with the photograph. I did some slight adjustments to the color with Curves. I also opened my signature file and copy - pasted as a layer to them.

I saved the large file after I merged all the layers. Then I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 for adding Image Information and to resized for display. I did that and saved the image in a Medium iteration.

I'd like you to listen to some of my Singer Songwriter Alternative Folk/Rock on SoundCloud. At:

https://soundcloud.com/gatzka-music

The first song is the full version of my new single "Open Secret." Which is for sale on CDBaby. I invite you to have a listen and consider buying it.

Comments, Pluses and Shares on Google+ are welcome and any Tweets would be appreciated. Thank you!

"Art Nouveau Lady with Butterflies" Dover Publications - Corel

Art Nouveau Lady with Butterflies

"Art Nouveau Lady with Butterflies," is the Digital Collage for today. I used my Dover Publications Samplers files for the whole image. I opened the Background in Corel PhotoPaint.

There I applied the Local Equalization tool and the Tone Curve for depth to the floral background. I resampled it to a Medium sized file. I then browsed for more and found the Art Nouveau Butterflies Clip Art (coloring page.)

I opened that in PhotoPaint and also opened up the Art Nouveau Lady, also a Dover Clip Art piece, a model with a hat and dress separately like a paper doll and clothes. I placed the Lady on the new background with the floral and butterflies. I cut out the hat and placed it. Then I did the same with the dress. I grouped the Object (layer) with Create New Object. I then applied the Tone Curve to her for color depth.

I added my signature in blue and bright pink outline. I applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrancy to punch up the colors. I saved this iteration with a new name for the file. At this point the file was 24-bit color at 300 dpi.

I opened the file in Corel PSP Pro X3 to add Image Information: Title, Copyright, Artist, etc. I added the Ornate Frame to the image and applied Saturation Vibrancy to it one more time (set at 33.)

I saved this iteration with the same name. I resized it for display, saving with a different file name.

"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.

"117,000 Plus Pageviews! - Floral Textured Guitars" Corel

Textured Floral Guitars

After a long hiatus, a trip to Iowa to attend a wedding and many days spent with my Grandson, I am posting. We reached another Milestone of over 117,000 Pageviews! Thank you for viewing!

I began with a photograph of our two Guitars and layered a house and trees and muddied sky over that. I then sought a Mayang's Texture of Rust and layered that into the image. I used Corel PhotoPaint to create this image.

I was not satisfied with the image as it had red-orange flowers in the upper third it. So I used an Art Deco color floral image from Dover Publications to layer and adjust and add more flowers with color punch.

I did a lot of adjusting to each layer with properties and opacity changes. Again I tried to create an unusual topical image of guitars with lots of texture. I think I succeeded.

I worked with some smaller images and after I did my creative work I saved that iteration. The I opened it in Corel PSP Pro X3 and added copyright and title information. I enlarged the image to 196 dpi and saved it with another name for a possible print out image.

Those of you who follow my blog I thank you! I offer my work for sale as Posters through Zazzle or as Prints through Fine Art America. If you see a work you would like a print of not currently listed on either site, Please visit my Art for Sale page and write me to request any special order. Orders done this way may garner a discount in my pricing, depending on quality and sizes available. Thank You for your interest!

"Yellow Floral with Ground Cover" Corel - Plus

Yellow Floral with Ground Cover

From our Garden another floral photograph. I browsed to the folder in Picasa 3.9 and then opened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

I applied the Smart Photo Fix feature, increasing the color. Added some punch to the color using Saturation Vibrancy at about a third. I then applied the Sharpen High Pass Sharpen Soft Light.

I saved that iteration. I resized for display and saved again under a differing name. Then I reopened with Corel PhotoPaint to add my signature in white, something my PNG files haven't let me do yet in PSP Pro, my fault no doubt.

I saved for gatzkART! and did this blog post for your enjoyment.

Guitar wise I was playing my 12-String Seagull and had it tuned in Open C Tuning. I made up some chords and rhythm and "Nonsense Words" and titled the song that.

Even though my amplifier is shot I can reroute my headset line through my PC Stereo Speakers; into my Line 6 Toneport UX1 and I recorded it in Audacity. I recorded the guitar first and then the words and made up the melody as I went. I saved as a project for further adjustments and exported as an MP3. I may put it on SoundCloud, but it was just for fun.

"Ground Cover, Black-eyed Susans and Stones" Corel PSP Pro X3

Ground Cover, Black-eyed Susans and Stones

Another photograph from our garden taken with our Canon Rebel XTi. Ground Cover, Black-eyed Susans and Stones, are the subject.

I browsed with Picasa 3.9 to this folder and picked this photograph for today's post. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

I used the Smart Photo Fix feature, increasing the color and sharpness. Then for a punch to the color I used the Saturation tool Vibrancy setting at about a third. I applied the High Pass Sharpen tool for details.

I kept my approach simple for my adjustments in digital processing, the Blue of the wall in the background stands out as well.

I saved the large iteration after using the Visible Watermark to add my signature. I then resized for display on gatzkART!.

"Stones Dirt and Flowers" Picasa - Corel PSP Pro X3 - Plus

Stones Dirt and Flowers

Stones Dirt and Flowers, is the title of today's image. Another floral photograph from our garden. The purple flowers just planted themselves there and grew next to the Black-eyed Susans.

After I selected this shot I used Picasa 3.9 HDR tool and adjusted the radius a bit. Then I applied the Lomo effect in Picasa. I saved that and opened the photograph in Corel PSP Pro X3.

Here I adjusted the Curves for depth, and Saturation for Vibrancy (about a third.) It really brought out the purple flowers and subdued the yellow of the Black-eyed Susans.

I saved that iteration. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint to add my signature in White. I saved that and reopened in PSP Pro X3 to adjust the size for display and add some information to the EXIF data. I saved again.

The Guitar motif will have to wait until I get the bug again, which won't be long.

On an interesting note gatzkART! has surpassed 110,500 Pageviews this week! Thank you for your views and interest in the workflow.

"Echinacea and Daisies with Ground Cover" Corel PSP Pro X3

Echinacea and Daisies with Ground Cover

As we finished our walk with our Grandson I took some photographs of our garden flowers. I used the Portrait setting on my Canon Rebel XTi DSLR for some softness to the photograph. I opened Picasa 3.9 and browsed to that folder and selected this photograph. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

I liked the Echinacea and the Daisies with the Ground Cover together. In PSP Pro X3 I used the Smart Photo Fix, brightening the colors a bit. I then used the High Pass Sharpen with Soft Light blending.

I applied Saturation Vibrancy at 12 for a punch to the colors. Using the Visible Watermark I added my signature. I saved the large version and then resized for display here.

I did not leave PSP Pro X3 for any other adjustments to the basic floral photograph.

"Bright Petunias and The Bridge" Corel Painter - Paint.NET - Corel PSP Pro X3

Bright Petunias

The Bridge

I began this image with a Dover Publications Sampler of Petunias in black and white. I opened in Painter 11 and selected the Camel Watercolors Brush and painted the Floral. I selected unusual colors for a punchy effect to the image. 

I then used a Gouache Cover Brush resized for the solid colors in the background. I saved that iteration and from Picasa 3.9 opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. I upped the colors with Saturation Vibrancy. I added my signature with the Visible Watermark tool. 

I then proceeded to experiment with differing frames for enhancement of the painting. I selected the black and white scroll work and then I added the ornate frame, still in PSP Pro X3. 

The second image is from a Challenge photograph on Painter Talk Forum. I manipulated the image in Paint.NET, using the Oil Paint effect. I saved that iteration and opened from Picasa with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added Brush Strokes and some Vibrancy to the colors. 

I simplified the colors using Posterize for an even more painterly feel. I then added a Paper Texture to the image and saved, then resized for display, added my signature and saved..

Two Painterly Images today! Click on them for more detailed views.

I had time to practice my guitar playing yesterday and worked on the finger calluses on my left hand. I did play some Blues lead with a Backing Track as well as played chord progressions and some songs. I ended up with a gravelly throat for I was really punching out the choruses! Sore fingers today but a satisfied inner self. 

"Red Orchids" Van Gogh Style - Corel Painter 11 - Plus

Red Orchids

Simple post today. This photograph was taken by my son Keir M. Gatzka. From Picasa 3.9 I opened with Corel Painter 11 and made a Quick Clone. I selected the Artist brushes Auto Van Gogh set at 37.8 and increased the Jitter slightly. I applied the auto painting feature.

Saving that file I reopened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and added the painterly frame. I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PhotoPaint. Here I added my signature in white and using Filter Forge's Photo Effects applied Vibrance to the image. I resampled the image to display size and saved again.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Come To Terms

"White and Green Watercolor Floral" Corel Painter 11 - Plus

White and Green Floral Watercolor

 

Another PainterTalk Watercolor Challenge. I opened the selected photograph for the challenge in Corel Painter 11. There I made a Quick Clone and began using the WC Drips and Runs brushes. Though the brushes were slow on my current PC I painted the bulk of the image. I liked the way the greens developed from light to dark.

I outlined the painting with Splashing Watercolor brush Square thick and thin selecting a light green color. I switched to Static Pencils and lightly highlighted some lines on the white flowers using the Cover pencil.

I saved that large file. I then opened from Picasa 3.9 with Corel PSP Pro X3. There I Adjusted the Hue and Saturation with Vibrancy for a slight punch to the blues greens and greens.

Using the Image, Visible Watermark I added my signature. I also added a green 25 pixel border and the Moss green mat, using Borders and Picture Frame in PSP.

I resized in PSP for display.

Listening --- The Beatles --- Abbey Road

"Three Irises" Digital Impressionism - Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Three Irises

I selected another older photograph of "Three Irises," rather close up and cropped for today's image. I browsed my external hard drive and found this photograph already cropped to focus on the 3 flowers.

I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and selected Impressionistic auto paint and kept the default settings; Full image, Impressionistic colors, Basic paper, and Impressionistic Brush.

I saved at 100%, highest quality jpg format. I then opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. There I applied Hue and Saturation, Vibrancy to give the colors more punch.

I added my signature using the Visible Watermark, Lower-right corner. And then added the Golden frame with Image, Picture Frames. I saved that iteration.

I did not resize because of the cropping done to the photograph, plus the frame, was almost 1000 pixels square, just slightly more. So the image was large enough, yet small enough to display here.

I'm still investigating those discovered Postage Stamps, some of which I shared yesterday. I really need to spend some time sorting them as they are not all in an album. There are a few duplicates as well and differing countries, too. Like putting together a puzzle, this is going to take some time.

"Digital Impressionistic Floral" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Digital Impressionistic Floral

This photograph is of smaller sized Snowball like flowers. I opened Picasa 3.9 and browsed to a Garden folder selecting the photograph. I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and tried a couple of auto paintings.

I concluded that the Impressionist style looked very interesting and auto painted the whole image. I especially liked the use of Impressionist colors for the white snowballs. The orange and lavender and white with a touch of blue.

I saved that file and selected it in Picasa and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. Here I applied the Hue and Saturation Vibrancy to give the color some punch. I also Adjusted the Brightness using Curves. I added texture using the Effects, Art Media, Brushstrokes. If you look at the larger image you can see the textures better.

I added the Mat and Golden frame in Image, Picture Frame after I had placed my signature with Visible Watermark.

It is a cool and windy Spring here in Michigan this year and I am using the photographs from our garden from previous year's blossoms. Many of our perennials come out later in the spring.

I saved the large file then resized for display here.

Listening --- The Invisible Band --- Flowers in the Window

"Day Lillies Digital Detailed Watercolor" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Day Lillies

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to a Garden folder and selected this photograph of Day Lillies. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint and applied the Adjust, Local Equalization tool for higher contrast. I then applied Filter Forge's Photo Effects Vibrance to add punch to the colors.

Saving that file I reopened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I used the Photo Painting Detailed Watercolor, Jagged Edge, Color, Saturate, Paper, Rough, and a Dry Brush. I auto painted the piece with these settings. I saved an iterative file.

I opened it with Corel PSP Pro X3 and Fit to Screen, I tried out some features before I selected Texture, Small Hatched Texture and applied that.  I used Image, Visible Watermark to add my signature.

I added the Picture Frame Rose Mat then the Golden Frame. I used Layers, Merge, Flatten to drop all the layers to one. I also applied Image, Increase Color Depth to 24 bit RGB. Saving that large iteration I then choose Image, Resize to 150dpi and 1220 x 1083 pixels display size for here.

Musically, my Son Keir and I have been working on an older song that I wrote many years ago (1981) using my 12-String Guitar. We are endeavoring to use his new Yamaha Portable Keyboard to learn the chords and the rhythm of the song "Spending the Afternoon." We will try to also play the melody after we get the other parts down first. Neither one of us are great keyboardist's at this point but we are working that out. It is a challenge and great fun.

"Columbine Digital Watercolor" Corel Painter 11 - Plus

Columbine Digital Watercolor

Yesterday I tried a different way of posting the steps I took to produce the image of the two guitars and music stand. I have described the steps taken today in paragraph form. I would be open to comments on which form you preferred, the bulleted outline of each step or the paragraph explanation of the steps taken. Leave a comment if you have a preference, please.

This image is from a Challenge at Painter Talk forums. I downloaded the photograph to a working folder and unzipped it. Then I opened Picasa 3.9 and browsed to the folder where the photograph was. I opened it with Corel Painter 11.

In Painter 11 I created a quick clone of the photograph, used the brightness/contrast to reduce the brightness of the original. With a lighter cast to the image I selected the Auto Van Gogh Artist brush and auto painted the full picture. I saved that with an iterative name and browsed to it in Picasa.

From there I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and selected  Photo Painting, Simple Watercolor with a Jagged edge, Color set to Lighten, Paper set to Coarse Canvas and the brush set to a Coarse Watercolor brush. I also set it to Random Strokes.

I then clicked Start and let the program Render my Watercolor painting. I saved another iteration and through Picasa I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3. I fit to screen and went to Adjust, Brightness and Contrast, Curves and added back in some depth of color.

I added my signature with Image, Visible Watermark. Then applied Image, Picture Frame twice, once for the Mat and then added the Golden frame.  I Merged all layers with Flatten, and saved that file.

I applied Image, Resize to 888 x 1000 pixels 16bit RGB and saved that iteration for display.

"Hummingbirds Watercolor" Digital Painting - Corel Painter 11 - Corel PSP Pro X3

Hummingbirds

I felt like doing some digital painting today, so I looked for another bird motif clip art image in my Dover Publications folder. Browsing in Picasa 3.9 I found some Hummingbirds with a nest and flowers. I used hue saturated colors to paint in Corel Painter 11. 

I used the Digital Watercolor brushes at differing sizes keeping the opacity high. I elected to leave the outlines of the original clip art for detail. After I painted the hummingbirds and flowers and leaves and nest I created another layer and used the property Multiply. I created the background and used the Salt brush on it for texture.

I had up-sized the image in Corel PSP Pro X3 to 4000+ pixels and 300dpi. So it was a large file that I used for this painting. I added my signature using the Visible Watermark and added a mat and frame in PSP. The file was so big that I ran out of RAM to resize it to a display size so I saved it and opened with Corel PhotoPaint and resampled it there instead. I also closed down Picasa 3.9 to free up RAM.

As you can see that worked in resampling this image.

Listening --- The Beatles --- Free As A Bird

"Oriental Grunge" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint - Dover Clip Art

Oriental Grunge

Late in the day, I love this floral grunge piece I used for the background. I opened with Corel's PhotoPaint and built this "Oriental Grunge," Digital Collage. After selecting the background I browsed my Dover Publication's Sampler folder in Picasa 3.9. I found the pieces you see here.

I cut out the woman from an image and pasted her after using the Tone Curve and boosting the color saturation of her. I also found the large plant like piece which offsets the woman. I applied the property Subtract to that and placed it in the collage.

I found another oriental lady and placed it as a "picture on the wall." I then, still using Dover Clip Art placed the scrolling frame. I put a black border using Papersize, centering it around the image.

Oh, yes, I must mention I did my clean up of my Hard Drive, making certain I kept the image folders I wanted for such a work as today. Textures, Clip Art, and some other items for inspiration. I saved all the photographs and images on my external Hard Drive and still have them for use if so required, but I regained a good amount of storage back on my work PC's Drive.

My workflow will alter a little to accommodate this change. Now if I can figure a way to have Picasa browse my external Drive, hmmm.

Listening --- Freddy Jones Band --- Better Tomorrow

"Beauty and Decay" - PSP Pro X3 - PhotoPaint

Beauty

Decay

I used some photographs taken by my Son, Keir M. Gatzka for enhancing. Both photographs were taken quite some time ago, with our first digital camera, a point and shoot small camera. So I did some searching in Picasa 3 to these older folders (yes I am a digital pack rat!) and found these photographs.

I opened with PSP Pro X3 and applied the Smart photo fix to each as an individual photograph. Then I upped the saturation quite a bit. I browsed the Picture Frame feature and found a Polaroid frame and used it on each as well.

I saved the large files and opened with PhotoPaint to apply the Tone Curve, lightly, to add depth to the images. Then I added my signature, as I am the enhancer of the photographs, and resampled for display here.

Both of these photographs were taken in and around our surrounding area, though the old machinery has been since cleaned away.

Listening --- Santana --- Moon Flower