"Bonamassa - Just Got Paid" HDR - Painter Essentials 5 Plus

Bonamassa - Just Got Paid

"Bonamassa - Just Got Paid," a screen capture from his performance was used for this piece. I am currently listening to quite a bit of Joe's Music and really like it. Bonamassa Website

I was in Picasa 3+ and I used the HDR tool on the capture. The Radius was medium and the strength was medium high. I also applied the Border tool for a Black and White Border. I saved this image with a new name.

I opened in Painter Essentials 5 and Digitally Painted it with the Oil Painting set, Digital Watercolor Dry Brushes. I then switched to the Illustration set and used the Chalk, Pastels, Crayons Soft Charcoal Brushes. I saved this under a new name.

I then used Paint.NET to add my Signature layer and resized , placed it with the property Additive. I merged the layers. Saving again as a JPG. I used the original bordered size of the piece for display.

All song names and the artist name are owned by Joe Bonamassa and his company. See the link above for more information about this Great Blues/Rock Singer/Songwriter/Performer. Thanks!

"1,060th Post! Electricity Does The Work" Corel - Plus

Electricity Does The Work

Here is a Free Vintage Image that I found today in the Blogs I read. It's a free image to use. I did little work on it in Corel PhotoPaint. I adjusted the Tone Curve for color depth, added an image of a tablet on the right. I changed "touch the key," to "touch the Icon," Did a little cloning. and resized for display.

So this is a short post that I hope you get some amusement from. I just want to know how much this Electric Blickensderfer costs! I want one. 10.1" 64gig 1gighz All the specials!

This is my 1,060th Post to gatzkART! I am still trying to create worthwhile Digital Visual Artwork and explain my workflow to my readers.

I hope you enjoy this humble blog.

"24 String Guitars" Corel HDR - Plus

24 String Guitars HDR

I took three of my 12-String Guitar photographs and merged them in Corel PSP Pro X3's HDR feature. As I aligned the photographs (which I did not take with a tripod,) they created this 24-String Guitar.

I auto adjusted the HDR and saved the large iteration. I opened from Picasa 3.9 with Corel PhotoPaint and cut out the Guitar and made it into a trio of them. I placed the opposing Guitars upside down on the background of the single guitar. I did stretch them length wise to fit the page. So they have an elongated look.

Still in PhotoPaint I added using Filter Forge's Frames a film frame. Then my signature in white. Merged all layers and saved the large file. I then resampled to display size and saved that iteration.

"The Blue Heron" Corel - Plus

The Blue Heron

Years ago a friend and his family lived in Paradise, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. He had a Carvers Shop where he carved marvelous Bird and Animals carvings. One of my favorite carvings was a beautiful detailed Blue Heron. It was matchless in detail and harmony of scale and vision.

I was browsing in Picasa 3.9 and came upon an image of a Blue Heron. I opened it with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted it. I selected Illustration, Intense Colors, Rough Paper and the Gritty Calligraphy Brush settings.

After the Auto paint I used the Soft Cloner brush to add back in some detail like the eye and feathers on the breast. I painted those back in leaving other details alone.

I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and resized it to a good display size. I added the jagged edges and a black border along with using Visible Watermark to add my signature.

This image brings back memories of myself, visiting my friend's Shop and sitting in his loft while I watched him work. I did this and finished writing "The Three Sleeping Umbrellas," children's story I told my own children. I had an older laptop at the time and it was bulky and hot. A summer's day I won't soon forget.

"The Better To See With" Corel Painter 11 - Plus

'59 Vette Close Up

From the Dream Cruise photographs I have this one of a close up of the headlights and grill of a '59 Vette. I opened through Picasa 3.9 with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted. I first used the Watercolor Sketch but was not satisfied with it. So I selected the Illustration feature. I made no changes to the settings with the exception of stopping the auto paint before it made Ink lines on the image.

I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PhotoPaint. I tried the Local Equalization on it and it spoiled the entire effect! Thank goodness for the Undo tool. I decided I needed some texture on the image so I opened with Corel Painter 11. There I applied the Surface Texture Image Luminance. Saving that I went back to PhotoPaint and Filter Forge's Photo Effects Dreamy and applied a variant to slightly adjust the colors.

There I added my signature in white and saved that iteration. resampled to display size and saved again.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Like I've Never Been Refused

"Grunge Seagull S12 Cedar Guitar" Corel PhotoPaint - Plus

Grunge Seagull S12 Cedar Guitar

Today I selected another blown glass floral photograph from Painter Talk Forum. I auto painted it using Detailed Watercolor in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4, as the background. I saved the file.

I took photographs of my "1990 Seagull S12 Cedar Guitar," and used the auto paint feature Illustration on one. Then I opened the other with Paint.NET and applied the Ink Sketch with full color.

Using Picasa 3.9 I opened the background with Corel PhotoPaint. There I copied and pasted the images of the guitars. On the Ink Sketch guitars I applied Effects, Creative, Alchemy which gave them a loose grunge feel. I duplicated the Illustrated guitars and placed them for a pleasant composition of repetition.

I used Filter Forge's Photo Effects Frame for a grunge look and feel for the entire image. I boosted the background color depth a bit with the Tone Curve. I saved that iteration.

I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and added some Vibrancy to the colors with Hue and Saturation. Saving the large file I resized for display after applying my signature with the Visible Watermark feature.

This guitar is my current instrument of choice for songwriting and jamming. I will even improvise Blues leads on it playing to backtracking MP3's in A minor and C major.

I am working on a new song I started last night called "Come To Terms." I have yet to work out melody and chord progression for it so I have some work ahead of me.

Maybe in the near future I will get an inexpensive but playable Electric guitar for improvising my leads and melodies.

Contemplating --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Come To Terms

"No. 1 In Style" Art Nouveau - Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

No. 1 In Style

Selecting an Art Nouveau pattern from "Art Nouveau Patterns and Designs by R. Beauclair I began today's image, a Digital Collage. Using my Canon MP495 I scanned in the background pattern into Corel PhotoPaint. There I applied the Tone Curve for a slight boost to the color. Using the Tune Blur, Directional Smooth I blended the colors a tad.

I searched my Dover Clip Art for a Vintage Woman's clothing style to fit the Flapper style. I applied that to the background centering her.

Next I referred to old magazines for the No.1 and the words IN and STYLE. I placed them using the Color Burn property, with the exception of the black type there I used the property Multiply.

"Meet the Happy New Me, No. 1 In Style," became the theme of the over all piece. I saved the large file and then resampled for display here with my signature.

Listening to --- Sheryl Crowe --- Mother Nature's Son

"12-String Digital Watercolor" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Corel PSP Pro X3

12_String Digital Watercolor

I found this photograph today on my external drive. I opened it in Corel PhotoPaint and rotated it to a portrait and cropped it. Saving that file, from Picasa 3.9 I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and adjusted the color with Equalize, lightening it. I then auto painted with Wet on Wet Watercolor. Added the Pen and Ink lines with a Pencil brush. Then added more color with the Colored Pencil thicker brush.

I saved that iteration and opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 to add my signature, the Polaroid frame and the black border. Saving the large file and then resizing for display.

I like the "1990 Seagull 12-String S12 Cedar," for a motif and was glad I rediscovered this photograph. Painter Photo Essentials 4 is a fun program to use to layer differing styles of imagery to create a one of a kind image.

Listening --- Kirk and Keir Gatzka --- Be Kind, Be There

"Dual Guitars" Illustrations - Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Corel PSP Pro X3

Dual Guitars 1 Illustration

Dual Guitars 2 Illustration

Since I've been songwriting again I felt it appropriate to select guitars as a theme for my visual art today. I connected my external hard drive and went to My Pictures folder and looked for my Guitars folder. Finding it I opened Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and dragged and dropped one of the photographs I had taken of our guitars.

I used the auto paint selection Illustration for the painting, with intense color. I used this on both selected photographs. I used Apply Surface Texture, Luminance to both images as well. I like the texture on the second one better as it lends itself to that painterly look and feel.

I saved the large files and opened Picasa 3.9 and browsed to my current folder for the blog images. I opened with Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3 and added the Visible watermark, a black border, saved, then resized for the blog.

Now on to some guitar playing.