"Digital Collage Guitars Mashup" Corel - Plus - Open G Tuning Instrumental

"Digital Collage Guitars Mashup" Corel - Plus

Today I am sticking with the motif of Guitars. I opened Picasa 3.9 and using the Collage function I browsed to the folder of my Guitars photographs and holding the Ctrl key I selected a number of landscape photographs. Then I chose Create Collage. I selected a Mashup of all the photographs the size of a CD cover 72 dpi with 5120 x 5120 size.

I pressed the key to create the collage. I applied the HDR tool for effect. I used the Pencil Sketch tool to show the outlines of the various guitars making up the overlaid collage. I saved that file. I opened with Corel PhotoPaint. 

There I increased the sharpness with Adaptive Sharpen, to show the strings and headstocks more clearly. I used the Tone Curve to deepen the tones. Saving this iteration I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3.

There I played around with a few Effects and was not satisfied with the results. I applied the Photo Effect Sepia for color. Then I used the Saturation tool Vibrancy to add to the color a bit.

Using the Visible Watermark I added my signature. I saved again. I resized for display on the blog.

Lastnight I was able to find time to play my 12-String in the Open G tuning. I used my Toneport UX1 and the Gearbox software and selected a Clean Guitar tone called "Bad." I turned up the volume and the Bass for the drone of the open tuning.

I found a drumming file I had created from a snippet of real life drumming lasting about 4 minutes. It begins with a Jet Plane like sound that I had made while playing around with sounds, then the drumming comes in.

I opened Audacity and loaded the drum background importing the file. After some playful practicing with the Open G tuning I had a number of chord structures to play with.

I started the recording and built from a softer beginning to a uptempo rhythm. Using the chords I had practiced I recorded for about 4 minutes. I saved as an Audacity Project to my external drive and then converted to an MP3 for playback. I titled it "Late Jet." I saved this MP3 to my Current EP songs titled "Celebrate Now." And using my Headphones for playback I listened to the results. I was pleasantly surprised with the mix. SoundCloud Link:  http://soundcloud.com/gatzka-music/open-g-late-jet

"Series 66 #2" Digital Collage - Corel PhotoPaint

Series 66 #2

For "Series 66 #2," I used Corel PhotoPaint, Painter 11 and CorelDRAW to create the image. Staying with the face motif I scanned in using my Canon MP495 and then cut, pasted, erased and resized to fit all the pieces to make this image.

I began by scanning in a large background piece from one source then turned to other sources for the additional pieces. I did use the Tune Blur and Tone Curve on many of the cutouts for smoothing and color depth.

I applied Little Ink Pot's Thredgeholder to the guitar player for a etched line look and feel. I also used the fonts Tossaway, Accords, and Arial Narrow in the piece. Accords is a guitar chord symbol library font which has a number of often used chord symbols.

I did create the "66" number in CorelDRAW with the Tossaway font. I copied and pasted and resized it in PhotoPaint. I added my signature to the large file and resampled for display and sharing here.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Collision Warning

Grunge Guitars - Gaussian Blur - Paint.NET -PhotoPaint

A return to a grunge guitar motif for today's image. I opened my Picasa 3 folder of Flaming Pear texture tiles and using the Collage feature created a collage of some of them. I selected the resulting collage and resampled it for a working size. I opened with PhotoPaint and applied the Tune Blur Gaussian blur to the textures. Then I made then into a Tritone and converted it back to RGB. I applied the Local Equalization to that for a high contrast background image.

I browsed to one of my guitar photograph folders and selected one of two guitars on an angle. I opened with Paint.NET and used the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> tool with the color turned down and the ink up a bit. I resized that to a size similar to the background I had in PhotoPaint. I copied it to the clipboard and pasted it on top of the tritone background. I sized to fit. I used Filter Forge's frames for a film frame.

I added some dripping paint splashes and the text to a fun, bluesy lyric entitled "Talk It Over." I added the basic blues chords E7 - A7 and B7 to the image as well. Here is the lyric:

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

You might find a good deal
Or you may buy a lemon
You might find a good deal
But think about it hey man

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Watch how your dollars spent
They gotta go as far as can be
Watch how your dollars spent
An make sure your honey agrees

If you don't watch your money
Someone else will be

If you don't watch your money, honey,
Someone else will be

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

Before you hand your money over
Talk it over

It's OK to laugh at the lyrics, they are meant to be fun! As any married couple may know it takes two to make a budget and stick to it! So before that purchase, talk it over, can you really afford it? I hope you can.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Talk It Over
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

Milestone - 5,000+ Pageviews for gatzkART!

A milestone has been made for gatzkART, today we posted over 5,000 Pageviews since March of 2009. Not bad for a relatively unknown Digital Visual Artist and Musicians blog. I have had the blog longer but did not begin using Google Analytics until then. So the number of visitors shows the visits to be closing on 4,000 but the actual Pageviews has been more.

Time to celebrate that milestone! What should I do? Create yet another post to gatzkART, of course.

Today's image is taken from a photograph of unknown origin. I want to give the photographer proper credit so if this photograph is familiar to you and you know who took it please post your comment!

I opened the photograph in Painter 8 and used more of the Painter 8 Wow! Book's brushes to replicate it with a painterly approach. I used oils, chalk, knives for texture, and Painter's own Digital Watercolor brushes for this piece. I was attempting a quick paint approach using the tools fairly fast and not going for a realistic view.

I applied the Filter Forge Freepack - Frames Grunge style frame to the painting in PhotoPaint. I also resized it for the web in PhotoPaint. Making it 1024x683 in size and compressing the jpg by 25 with smoothing set to 12.

I really like the expression on this gal's face and have done other permutations of this using vector art in CorelTRACE and CorelDRAW. The resulting image was striking and visually very different that this one.

I did some blues playing on my guitars yesterday. Using a technique that I garnered from a YouTube video. Very simple addition to my guitar playing. I also looked up the lyrics and chords for Staind's Tangled Up In You. It proved to be a simple chord structure but even with the 12-string I could not do the song justice in my style. They just plain did it better!

Guitar Series VIII - Music Stand Grunge

Yesterday I took the lyrics for "The Solitary Man" and added chords and a melody. I renamed it "The Solitary Walker" to better fit the words. I found some new chords in the "A chord" group. An A9 in the first two frets then I move it up to the next two frets and lift up one finger for the three chord basis of the verse. Variations of the "D chords" is used for the Chorus. With a simple bridge of G Em Am D.

The lryics were posted earlier and I did not change them at all, I was satisfied with them as they are.

The image today is another in my Guitar series. I used a floral grunge texture from Autumnights as the background. I took the photograph of the two guitars plus a music stand with lyrics and chords for "Cat's in the Cradle," and "Polly Come Home," on it. I play mostly by ear so I use these formats extensively.

I resized the two images to fit each other to overlay them. I used Paint.NET to apply the Ink Sketch filter with the color boosted high. I opened both the images in PhotoPaint and copied the guitars to the clipboard and overlaid it onto the floral grunge background. I used the Object Property Multiply for transparency and merged them together.

I used the font called Yukon Gold for the dripping chords, and WC Rhesus B Bta font for the paint splatters adding the dripping effect filter to them.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Polly Come Home Cover
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Guitar Series VI - Duo Grunge

The Lyon 6-string guitar needed some new strings so a visit to MotorCity Music was in order late Sunday. I purchased a set of D'addario Phosphor Bronze Light gauge strings. I restrung the guitar after I got home and the difference is not subtle. The sound of the guitar improved immensely with the new strings. A rich , full tone with both bass and treble sounds coming clear and true. It's amazing what a new set of strings can do for an inexpensive guitar.

I took one of the photographs of the two guitars I had taken recently and added to my guitar series with another grunge piece.

I started with a rust colored leather like texture for the background, I have forgotten the source online. I resized it for the web to 1024x684, 72dpi to keep it managable. I did this in PhotoPaint.

I opened the photograph of the guitars and ran the Thredgeholder filter on it to get the sketchy feel to add to the grunge style. I copied it to the clipboard and pasted it into the texture as an object, much like using layers. I adjusted it using the Object Properties Multiply to allow the texture to show through.

Saving this file I opened it in Paint.NET and applied the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch filter with the color full up and the ink brush set at medium. I saved this and reopened it in PhotoPaint and adjusted the Tone Curve to lighten it a bit. This file I opened in Painter and used the Photo brushes Burn and the Splatter watercolor brush to the background. And I used the Photo Saturation brush to boost the color on the guitars only.

Saving that I reopened in PhotoPaint to add the text of a chord progression and a bit of lyric complete with Effects> Distort> Wet Paint> for the dripping. I then added some paint splatters and used the Object Properties to adjust the opacity to 62% letting the texture show through. I added the dripping wet paint to these as well. I merged all the object to the background, completeing the new Image.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Amanda Marshall - Let It Rain
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Vintage Photographic Book Page

Recently I've had the plesure of renewing contact with one of my surviving Aunts. She is 86 years old, and along with her my cousin.

A couple of photographs were shared online and I took the one on the right and cropped it and tinted it using PhotoPaint, adding a frame. Both pictures are of my Father and Mother. The one on the left is when they were older and at a wedding. My Dad played Hawaiian Steel Guitar as a young man. My Mom tinkered with the piano.

I created this collage of the two photographs, both doctored up by myself using Painter 8 on the left one and PhotoPaint on the right one. I created the illusion of an old Photograph Album, using a grunge texture as the background. I faded the photos to give that appearance of age.

Using CorelDRAW I made a corner like the ones used to paste photographs into a hard copy Photo Album. I copy and pasted it into PhotoPaint and added them accordingly.

Musically I found the lyrics and chords for "Polly Come Home" done by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. After some practice along with the recording I did a cover of it using my Toneport UX1 and the Shure PG58 microphone. I recorded it and exported as an mp3 file. It is a very pretty song and the chords are easy open chords. It was a pleasure to play it with the 12-string, singing it as best I could, it came out in my style as I have a very strong one by now.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Alison Krauss - Polly Come Home
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Floral - Guitar Chords - Vector Graphics

I've been working on using the freehand vector drawing tool in CorelDRAW for creating some swirls and floral graphics. I started with a photograph taken by my son Keir M Gatzka and opened that in Paint.NET. There I applied the Artistic> Ink Sketch> filter to the large floral saving the file.

I copied and pasted that into CorelDRAW and added the swirls and flowers drawn with the freehand tool. I grouped them together and copied to the clipboard. I then opened from the clipboard in PhotoPaint and added the frame.

I selected a chord progression I have been playing with, with modifications each time I used it. the E7sus4 not being a common chord I added the diagram of it and the arrow from CorelDRAW.

It is a simple open chord grouping and can be fun to alter the strumming and order of the chords, up the tempo, slow it down, flatpick it. It has yet to form a basis for a song but it is enjoyable to use for practicing these open chords.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Like I've Never Been Refused
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Vector Graphics - Digital Collage - Guitar Chords

Vector graphics with a grunge texture from Texture-
King with a guitar motif. I used CorelDRAW to create the centerpiece of the image a stylized 6-string guitar. I added some curlicues and musical notes using the freehand drawing tool.

I left out any text with the exception of some guitar chords for those who are guitar players to experiment with. In PhotoPaint I added the headstock of a 12-string guitar and a few duplicates of a 6-string. That was added using the Thredgeholder from Little Ink Pot for the sketchy appearance. Paint splatters and drippings included using Effects> Distort> Wet Paint.

I am missing out on a trip to the cider mill today. The weather here is better but I wasn't up to a trip out. So I created this image for the blog.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Open Book
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Theme Revisited - Acrylic Brushes - Painter 8

Revisiting a theme can provide differing challenges to an artist. I wanted to make this version of my wife and I using Painter 8 and the Acrylic brushes.

The smiles we both have are really nice, you can tell we were having a great time. This approach makes us both stand out more as well.

I used PhotoPaint on the background to make it recede some more. I applied the masking tool to each of us and then utilized the Effects> Custom> Alchemy> filter to the background.

I got out my 12-string guitar both last night and the night before and played before retiring to bed. I am playing with some chord progressions. Em and A, uptempo with hushing the strings and making a beat before switching to the A chord. Then a quick change to C Em D holding the D for a few extra beats. I don't know if this will lead to a song. I am just trying a different tempo and type of strum with these chords.

All in all having a nice time practicing this set of chords.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Comes
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Fictional Portraits III - Major Visual Inspiration

Got some major inspiration from an Article at instantShift today. 50 interviews with popular web designers and founders. Very good information. It took a while to load on dial up but I let it go so I could get the full impact of the article and it's related interviews. I still am going through the information there.

Visual Art is alive and well and these individuals are proof of that. Design for the internet is flourishing. While these professionals are moving and shaping, I do my little bit here on my blog, sharing some of my creative process and images.

This piece is entitled "Hope," which I think is in the expression on her face, a hopeful look. Also from my sketchbook and scanned in, with Painter 8 adding the water coloring. A simple and basic image. I am following my Fictional Faces motif as I had mentioned I would be doing.

I did write a song yesterday. It's entitled "The River," one of many titled the same I am certain. I used the River, Creation, Birdsong as metaphors for the flow of life while dealing with personal problems and seeking answers to them. I wrote it after a conversation I had about dealing with limitations and how modesty comes into play when we really are perplexed by such. I used a basic chord progression D open E, G C, A E, with a folk rock rhythm. It's not too bad if I say so myself. (Of course, I am going to be bias!)

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - GDEmAmD
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Home Sweet Home - Chord Progessions

"Our House is a very, very fine house." (DejaVu Album CSNY.) An impres-
sionist view of our front gardens and our new porch and roof. We had to replace both of them this year.

I took the photograph with my Canon Rebel XTi, you can see only part of our steeply inclined driveway. We are up on a hill overlooking the lake below, on the other side of the photo view.

You will notice we have a number of perennials planted that come in year after year and blossom wonderfully. Plus the rock garden, and the tiered levels add much to the landscaping. And yes we have purple doors!

I was up last night and had to play the guitar to tire myself out enough to get some sleep. I have a list of Major key and Minor Key chord progression called the "Song Writers Chord Construction Chart", that I got from the forums on the Guitar Tab Universe site.

I was playing with a couple of the Major keys: G Am Bm C D Em and a second one A Bm C#m D E F#m. trying out different patterns of the progressions and using some flatpicking as well as different strummings. It was funny how much they sound the same with going through the pattern as presented using the same strumming, just different keys, simple.

It was enough to get me ready for sleep, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Try out the progressions yourself with some experimentation. You may end up with a song!

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - A Bm C#m D Run
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Vector Portrait - Blonde

Continuing my series on these vector portraits I am sharing this 'Blonde' today. I used the same techniques in CorelDRAW, the freehand drawing tool and a base photograph for the portrait.

Could not sleep last night so I was playing around with my headphones on playing guitar through the Toneport using Gearbox. I was experimenting with differing guitar models. I would play a rhythm chord progression like E A B7, and then select a lead guitar model and play a lead to it.

I was recording the result but, nothing worth keeping became of it. I did find out that Line 6 Community has free drum loops available but the size of the zip files were 34 - 50+ megs and I am on dial up. The other problem is that my ISP will kick me off after approximately 3 hours online, though it is supposed to be unlimited access. So even if I started a download it always gets interrupted. So no free drum loops for me at this juncture anyway.

I had fun jamming with the Toneport and Gearbox, chalk it up to a learning experience.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Helpless Cover
via FoxyTunes

Digital Study of a Gypsy Woman

I've done a digital Study of a Gypsy Woman using Corel's PhotoPaint and KPT's Collection. Something different for a change to the type of artwork I've displayed here previously.

I used various fills for this image, as is evident. I tried to keep it simple yet attractive. It is not a vector graphic but a bitmapped based image.

I like the vulnerability of the pose, holding up the long hair. It speaks of a openness that she has.

As far as music goes I did a Blues tune called "Broadband Blues". It's about the cost of having broadband connections to the internet when all one can afford is dialup. You miss out on things like training videos, music streaming, fast file downloads, it precludes any large downloads at all. I used a simple E7 A7 Bm7 chord structure, a good blues riff. I played around with the lead riff quite a bit. It turned out pretty good, in my humble opinion.

With that song I started a new group of songs for another 15 songs or so for a Audio CD. I completed "Fifth Time Around" with 15 songs, about an hour of music playing time. Fits easily on a single CD.

I am going to call the next one "One Tough Baby" and dedicate it to my wife who is one tough lady. A Cancer survivor, who has avascular necrois in both hips and lives with pain each day. She has allergic responses to most pain medications so she just grins and bears it. She gives of herself to a fault, and is aways there for me. What a gal! We hope she can have hip replacement surgery some time in the future, but for now the doctors are saying to wait.

So, I have a song title and a subject all I need is the chords, lyrics and melody for it. A nice challenge.

An Overcast Day Near Cook's Inlet

An overcast day driving toward Seward. Surrounded by mountains and waters it was beautiful though cloudy.

This is a heavily cropped photograph going south from Anchorage. I was the only one to see the tailfin's of a Beluga whale. No one else could verify it for me! I stand alone.

I put together another song yesterday. I used a chord progression I had used before but played it to a drum backbeat. A little up tempo backbeat with a slower chord strumming to it. I found an old song that I had not liked the chords and melody to and took the lyrics and fit them to the different progression. The melody is very Rock-like. Simple yet strong.

I started a new round of songs for a CD this one I've named "Fifth Time Around." As I have created enough music for at least four CDs. Now a Fifth one is growing.

Chord progressions and leads are coming fairly well but new lyrics and melodies are harder. Whe I was younger I was pretty prolific with lyrics and poetry. As a more mature person you'd expect I would have more to write about, but it doesn't always come out like it used to.

Inspiration is the best but most of it is persperation instead!

I am also limited to open chords and I avoid Barre chords, I have small hands and i'm playing the 12-string and it is just plain harder to barre 12 strings cleanly.

So I relish in learning new open chords like C2 and Asus2, G6 and others. Then to make them into a nice progression is a challenge I enjoy. Bridges are elusive as well. They can be so different, yet have to keep to the songs overall development, as to pose some difficulites.