"How to: Vintage Rusted Truck In The Forest" PE5 Plus

Vintage Rusted Truck In The Forest

Another great photograph of a "Vintage Rusted Truck In The Forest." I like these honorable old vehicles that have seen better days of service. Here we see that it was labeled a "Resort Beach," service truck.

I opened it in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (PE5) and used the Effects: Equalize then upped the Saturation Uniform Color to 71%. I saved the large file. Next, I used that image to digitally paint. I chose a Pastel Drawing set for this. I selected a Chalk, Pastel and Crayons Brush the Scratchy Jitter Smooth Brush. After the digital painting I used the Soft Cloner Brush to add back in some details of Rust, and color to the Forest. I saved this iteration.

Opening in Paint.NET, I applied the Effects, Artistic, Ink Sketch lightly. I added my signature layer and merged down the layers, saving with a new name.

In Corel PhotoPaint, I adjusted the Saturation to 23 and used the Tone Curves to add depth. I quickly used Picasa 3+  and applied the Warmify filter to the full-color image. Saving that I used PhotoPaint to resample for display an Optimized JPG, 150dpi, 1220 X 810 pixels, Anti-aliased, Maintaining the aspect Ratio.

I have been using the free program Grammarly while I type my workflow. It is very helpful in Blogger to make corrections on the fly to my descriptions of each step I take to create an image. You can even Ignore a recommendation if it does not fit your narrative style. I recommend it.

"How this was done: Sister in law and Younger Brother" Corel

Sister in law and Younger Brother

I was visiting my family up north in Farwell, Michigan and received some photographs from them for our albums. I took them and scanned them in using my Canon MP495 All-in-One. I set the scans for 300dpi and saved them to a Family Photo Folder.

I opened this portrait in Corel PSP Pro X3. The first thing I did was to crop the image, ridding it of some of the White Sky on the top of the original photograph. I applied the Smart Photo Fix:

• Brightening
• Increasing shadows
• Upping the color a bit

I then used Adjust Curves for Depth, and  Saturation Vibrancy set at +20 for greater color.

I next opened the altered photograph in Corel Painter Essentials 5. First I tried a Pastel Drawing:

• Chalk, Pastels and Crayons Brushes
• Selecting the Sharp Charcoal Pencil Brush
• size 7.0
• opacity 100%
• grain 25%
• Clone Color from Source Image

I digitally painted the image for the first time, saving the iteration.

I next decided I wanted to experiment with the Modern Painting settings in PE5:

• I painted from the Clone Color Source Image
• After that was done I could see where more detail was needed
• I Selected Photo Painting Brushes
• Soft Cloner
• And I Hand painted the Details back in with the setting for the Cloner Brush:
• Size 15.7
• Opacity 24%

I liked the resulting image, very painterly, and still with more details for the Faces, making a better portrait of my subjects. I saved that iteration with a differing name.

In PSP Pro X3 I added my Signature as a layer and sized and placed it with the property Multiply, merging and saving again.

As you can see I have used a combination of Narrative and Outline description of the process, workflow explanation. I hope you find it easier to follow the steps I took for this photograph to Digital Painting.

Musically I recently found online, three songs to learn to play on my Seagull 12-String Guitar and sing along in accompaniment. They are:

• Good Riddance, Time of Your Life: by Green Day
• I'm Fixing A Hole: by the Beatles
• Big Yellow Taxi: by Joni Mitchell - the Counting Crows version 

I am hoping this warmer weather continues as my Studio/Office gets pretty chilly this time of year. I would be more apt to practice and record Covers for my own enjoyment if it remains warmer in here!

The last poem I wrote, is not good fodder for lyrical or melody development, so I await until a new song strikes me for writing and recording. 

"Freehand Drawing Vintage 1980, Acrylic coated Pastel Man" Corel - Canon

Old Man Sleeping India

Pencil and Pastels Man Acrylic Coating

Digging through my past works that my son found stored away I have these to share today.

"The Old Man Sleeping India," was a freehand drawing made from a photograph that my Dad took while stationed in India during the Korean War. It is a circa 1980 Color Pastels Pencils Drawing.

The second image is a fictional "Man's Portrait," done freehand in Pastels, this was drawn on old packing paper, with the brown of the paper showing through. I took a few photographs of it and this was the clearest, I used the flash so you can see the Acrylic Coating Media I used to preserve it.

With both photographs, taken with my Canon Rebel XTi, I adjusted in Corel PSP Pro X3. Cropping, some color enhancements with Saturation, and a framing with boarder on the second image.

"Pucker 1 - Freehand Young Woman" Corel, Canon

Pucker 1

Found images are so much fun sometimes! Here is a "Young Woman With Puckered Lips," ready to give a kiss to someone. Who? I don't know, he is not the subject of the image. I did this circa 1990's and scanned it in with my Canon MP495 into Corel PhotoPaint. I adjusted the Tone Curve for depth and added my signature and saved the large iteration.

I opened in Corel PSP Pro X3, using Saturation Vibrancy on it for a boost to the colors. I saved with Image Information that iteration. Then I resized it for display.

This was a fictional gal, done freehand with Pencil, Pen and Ink and Pastel Pencil. I am glad I ran across her sitting loosely in my files and not still in a Journal. A delightful subject.

"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.

"Digging the Garden - Archives" Old Digital Art

Filling Things

Pink Rust Code Gender

I was installing Windows 7 32-bit on my old PC and found a few CD's with old Digital Visual Artworks on them. I am looking them over and making some changes with Corel PSP Pro X3 and PhotoPaint and displaying them here and on Google+.

I did some of these in 1999 the year my Mother died. Some are somber others are upbeat and reflective with words of pain and loss. A hard time for me, as it is for those who lose loved ones in death.

I am certain I used PhotoPaint for some of these archived images and others are scanned in pen and ink and pastel works.

I am trying to keep this blog going in spite of a harried schedule, taking care of our Grandson and other related activities. I hope you will enjoy some of my old artworks!

"F-Hole Guitar Player" Corel - Filter Forge - Plus

Guitar Player

I was browsing in Picasa 3.9 through my images and photographs. I discovered this badly blurred photograph of a Guitar Player. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and applied the Digital Camera Noise Removal and the Smart Photo Fix. Then I used the Unsharp Mask on it. After it looked a bit clearer I saved that iteration.

I opened with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and auto painted with the Pastel Drawing. After I did that I selected Simple Watercolor and set it with the contrast very light in color. I auto painted over the Pastels.

I selected the Cloner brush and added back in some detail around the face, guitar and arms and hands. I also painted some background lines around the darkened images hanging on the wall.

I saved that file with a new name and opened with PSP again. There I upped the Saturation with the Vibrancy tool. I added a loose white border. Using the Filter Forge Frame plugin I added a Grunge Frame to it. I added my signature with the Visible Watermark tool. I saved the large version then resampled for display.

I have painted a different version of this photograph quite a while ago, but wanted to attempt a newer version of it.

964 posts and counting to 1,000!

"Grunge Electric Guitar 2" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Grunge Electric Guitar 2

I used similar techniques on today's image as I did on yesterdays. I chose a photograph of an Electric Guitar and applied Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 auto paint features to it. I first used the Pastels Hatch brush, then I applied the Simple Watercolor feature. I selected the Pen and Ink feature and drew in, by hand, the ink outlines and hatching.

Saving that file I opened in Corel Painter 11 and used the Apply Surface Texture to the image using Luminance. Saving that iteration I opened in Corel PhotoPaint and using Filter Forge's Photo Effects Grunge I gave it a grungy look and feel. I added my signature in white.

I saved that and reopened in Corel PSP Pro X3 and added a white mat with ragged edges and a black frame using Picture Frame. I resaved and reopened in PhotoPaint and used the Wand tool to select the white mat and added a color gradient with the Fill tool. I resampled for display and finished.

Listening --- Essential Blues --- Old Cassette Tapes Compilation

"Pastel, Pen, Watercolor, Grunge Acoustic" Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 - Plus

Grunge Acoustic Guitar

Short post today, I am sharing a Grunge Acoustic Guitar image created using Corel PhotoPaint and Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. I first enlarged the photograph to a working size. Then in PhotoPaint I applied the Local Equalization tool.

In Painter Photo Essentials I selected a Pastel drawing with a square chalk set at Hatch small brush with Random Strokes. I then used the Pen and Ink auto-paint for the black lines. I added to that image a Simple Watercolor with the color set to Saturate.

I saved the large image, opened in PhotoPaint and added my signature and resampled for display here.

Listening --- Kirk Mathew Gatzka --- Instrumentals

Flowers - Gouache - Worn Oil Pastel - Digital Watercolors - Painter 11

An exercise in Painter 11 using Gouache brushes, Worn Oil Pastel brushes, and Digital Watercolors. I selected a floral image in Picasa 3 from my Dover Publications collection of samples.

I opened this in PhotoPaint to resample to a larger working size and saved that file at 96 dpi. I reopened it in Painter 11 and selected the Gouache brushes for the flower petals and the Worn Oil Pastels for the leaves.

I selected a couple of different Digital Watercolor brushes for adding the crimson color to the flower petals and the yellow background. I saved the larger file and reopened in PhotoPaint.

There I added a 10 pixel black border using the Papersize> option of Image>. I resized the piece for sharing here.

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Now playing: Metric - Come Back Baby
via FoxyTunes

Georges Braque - Pastels - Impasto

Art Archive's listing of Braques Paintings

Pen and Ink - Pastels - Impasto - Man - Woman

Henri Matisse - Master Colorist

Today's post is about Henri Matisse [click here] a contemporary of Picasso. He is one of my favorite painters, high on the list. Here you see a piece done by me freehand on gessoed packing paper with pastel pencils and soft chalks. I scanned the image in at 600 dpi and opened the tif file in Painter 8. There I cloned the image and painted it with impasto brushes.

I did not alter the tone or saturation at all as the colors came through clear in Painter. I resampled the file in PhotoPaint as it is a 101 megabyte 8" x 11" image. Here it is a smaller jpg version for display on the web. I really enjoyed working on this in pastel on the gessoed paper. Adding the impasto brush strokes was also fun to do.

Matisse is known for his painting from Impressionistic to Fauvism on to his paper cutouts later in life. He was prolific in producing marvelously colored works. His sketches are also famous for simple lines designing beautiful subject matter.

To me he is a Master colorist and I thoroughly love his decorative approach to painting. I include one of my favorite pieces here that I found on the internet, resampled for display here.

This is only one example of his use of color and line and appeals to me because of the inclusion of the guitar. Please see the above link for Biographical information and more of his Art work.

I continue to play in the DADGAD Tuning on my 12-string. I did some recording through my Toneport selecting an Archtop Jazz guitar style in the Gearbox software.

The recording came out too full of bass and not enough treble for my taste so I did not keep the recording. I am going to try using only the Shure PG58 microphone to record with a clearer vocal tone selection to see if I can capture the truer tones of the 12-string. I did try to alter the pitch a bit higher in Audacity but it sounded fake, so I decided to re-record at another time.

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
115 x 115.1 cm.
1939

Yellow Red Orchid - Watercolor - Painter 8

This image began as a pastel and pen sketch in one of my sketchbooks. I scanned it in at 300dpi for a fair size file. In PhotoPaint I selected the piece leaving out the fold of the sketchbook page. I saved that file and opening in Painter 8 I cloned it and cleared it and using the Tracing Paper I began to paint it using the Camel watercolor brush.

I used varying sizes of the brush and also the Flat brush for much of the background, focusing on the Orchid. Completing that I used the soft cloner to add back some detail of the pen lines and to boost color in places.

I saved the file again and reopened it in PhotoPaint where I added a watercolor frame using the Filter Forge's Freepack 3 - Frames. I added a small yellow mat to this using Image> Papersize> centering it and using 30 pixels setting.

I was recently invited to join JamPlay.com for a 7 day trial period. [click here] to go to their site. I looked up some Blues guitar lessons and learned a bit of blues - chords - shuffle - turnaround, etc. It is a good site for learning guitar playing. I also participated in a chat with Mark Lincoln of the site which was informative and enjoyable. The sites monthly subscription starts at $19.95 a month. Which for what is made available in video lessons is reasonable.

My trial is just about up so I will try to get some more Blues lessons perhaps today. I may not be able to afford the subscription right now but I will book mark that site for future reference.

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Listening to: Tim McGraw - When the Stars Go Blue
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Painting Portrait in Painter 8 - Baby and Mom

Here is another portrait, this time a mother and her baby. The original photograph was taken by David Benjamin in a casual setting at a gathering of friends, he was using my Canon Rebel XTi DSLR. I opened the photograph in Painter 8 and made a clone of it, selected all and cleared it then used the tracing paper. I started with pastels and used a few different pastel brushes.

I then switched to the acrylic brushes for more details in the eyes and mouths and ears. I got a painterly look with some realism thrown in as well.

I used PhotoPaint to take and mask out the faces and change the background, done in pastels, and filtered it using the Effects> Custom> Alchemy> filter. This gave the background a texture it hadn't had before, and it retreats more from the faces now.

I haven't attempted a portrait like this in some time. I usually go for less realism in my work, but these two together looked so good I wanted to capture that essence. I hope you enjoy it.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Bruce Cockburn - Great Big Love
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Change of Pace - Traditional and Digital - Portrait

Listening to Citizen Cope's Back Together as I am posting this today. Here is a portrait I did from my imagination. I used some old packing paper with white Gesso on it for color, texture, and tactile feel. I used pastels and pastel pencils to create this piece. It is larger than this but what you see is what my scanner could scan in and you get the sense of what the larger image is.

I wanted to show how I use traditional media and digital media together. After I scanned the pastel piece in I opened it in Painter 8. I used the acrylic brushes with texture added. As you can see if you click the image for the larger one there are things like the fold in the paper, the strokes of the pastels, and the digital strokes visible.

I created a unique blend of pastels and digital tools. I titled it "Harold", no apparent reason just came to my mind as I finished it up.

I am a bit discouraged today as my plans did not work out for the day. I imagine that happens to all of us. You plan and yet something comes up and changes the plan. Rather unsettling for me. I imagine others look at it as a challenge to employ their creativity and put it to use. So I am going to try that today. I need to do some creative activity. That will definitely help.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Coldplay - Speed Of Sound
via FoxyTunes