"Does Anybody Know?" ©2013 by Kirk Mathew Gatzka

My new song, I've been practicing it for a long time now. I wanted to present it to you today! Comments are welcome! I have a different version on SoundCloud with additional vocals and reverb. But this is a Bright and Clean recording. Hope you enjoy it!

"Lizzy Spit - In the Spotlight - Artists in the Plus" - Corel

Singer Songwriter Lizzy Spit

I was able to watch a recent "In the Spotlight," with guest, +LIZZY SPIT on YouTube. An interview and some songs were performed by Lizzy. Her musical background was interesting to find out about and her performance of songs was wonderful and delightful.

I used a screen capture of her and opened it in Corel PhotoPaint to crop, afterward I opened that file with Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4. There I selected the Classic Oil Painting setting, with Rough Paper and auto Painted the image. Saving that I opened with PhotoPaint and applied Filter Forge's Frames film frame. I added my signature and saved in display size.

If you Missed the Show from Artists in the Plus here is the YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeWmrlrXIeQ

Credits: +Artists In The Plus +John Voshell 

"We Sing Karaoke" Corel - Plus

We Sing Karaoke [click for larger view]

A change of pace for me today. We had gone to a Graduation Party last summer and they had Karaoke there. Both my wife and I sang some songs together. One of our friends took photographs with my Canon Rebel XTi of us singing.

I browsed in Picasa 3.9 to that folder and found those photographs. I opened with Corel PSP Pro X3 and I cropped the photograph to a portrait size. I applied my PSP workflow of the Digital Camera Noise Removal, Smart Photo Fix, and Unsharp Mask soft focus. I also boosted the color with Saturation Vibrancy.

Saving that iteration, I opened in Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 and applied the Watercolor Sketch setting with the Wash brush. Auto painted, I took the Soft Cloner brush and added back in some detail to the faces and hands. Saving that I reopened in PSP Pro X3 and added the Ornate Picture Frame, and my signature. I resized to a display size for here.

I may not be a performer of my own music but I do enjoy some Karaoke once in a while. Other songwriters songs and lyrics and melodies are some how easier to sing than my own works. So we had an enjoyable time with friends.

"Lil' Miss Lillian Decides" Video - Logitech - Audio - Line 6 Toneport UX1

This song was inspired by a Black and White Photograph of my wife as a child on a Carousel. Probably circa early 1950's, she was riding by herself, but I include in the song that, "I'm alongside, of you." "Lil' Miss Lillian Decides," is ©2010 Kirk Mathew Gatzka, All Rights Reserved.

49 West Ed & Patrick (Sparks & Raymond) - Painter 11 - Paint.NET - PhotoPaint

Click for Larger Image

My Musician friend Edward Sparks shared this photograph with me of a performance at 49 West in Annapolis. He and a friend performing here made for a great image. After I got permission from Edward I saved the photograph and opened with PhotoPaint to resample it to 96dpi which gave me a larger file to work with. I sharpened the image with a Directional Sharpen and saved the larger file.

I opened with Paint.NET and applied the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> for a bit of pen and ink look and feel. I upped the color all the way and backed down the ink. Saving the image I opened with Painter 11 and created a quick clone with a white background. I began with the Straight Cloner brush and painted in Edward and Patrick only. Then I selected the Artist's Auto Van Gogh and with the lone button selected began painting in the background with that brush.

I then selected the Smeary Bristle Clone brush and added some color around the two of them and painted in the bass guitar and banjo. I added some details from the photographs background. The next brush I chose was one of Skip's Digital Watercolors and added a bit more detail allowing the Van Gogh brushwork to show through.

Selecting another digital watercolor brush from Skip's I used the eyedropper to select the blue color to add to the right hand sides large window. This was a finishing touch for this image, it really balanced the composition out color wise.

I saved the file again under a differing iteration. Opening In PhotoPaint I resampled the file for display online and added my signature.

I want to thank Edward for this opportunity to paint this image.

Listening --- Edward Sparks --- No Perfect People Allowed

New Song - Like I've Never Been Refused - SoundCloud

Like I've Never Been Refused by Gatzka Music

Art for Arts Sake - New Song on SoundCloud

Art For Arts Sake 1 by Gatzka Music

Song on SoundCloud - Miss Lillian Decides

Miss Lillian Decides by Gatzka Music

1954 Kaiser-Darrin Convertible

Another car with a flare is the 1954 Kaiser-Darrin. Here is a represen-
tation created from a photograph by Kent M. Gatzka at the Frankenmuth, Michigan Auto Festival 2009.

A two seater, white convertible with a red soft top, this is one interesting vehicle. For more history about the Kaiser-Darrin click here on Conceptcars.com.

I created this image using Paint.NET and PhotoPaint and various filters and maskings. The unique car is show at a pleasing angle that gives the viewer an idea of it's interior and sleek body style.

In the musical area I have completed writing, "The Last Good Cowboy," song I have been working on and now I look forward to recording it. I haven't decided if I will use any lead for the song yet, but that usually comes with experimentation while recording. As I play back the basic song, singing melody, lyrics, and playing the 12-string I try to discover an interesting lead for the song. If I don't discover one I leave it simple with perhaps back up vocals tracks added.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Tim McGraw - The Cowboy in Me
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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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Fictional Portraits VIII - Simple Grunge - Social Media

Social Media seems to be so popular now. But I remember when Compuserve had forums for sharing art and comments, at 300 baud. That may have been the beginning of social contact through the computer and the internet.

I also remember the old Bulletin Boards where most of what was shared was in text form, at 300 baud. So these two examples may have been the forerunners of Social Media networking.

Now with Web 2.0 and easy to format blogging and other forms of Social Media anyone (including me) can become a publisher of content of both text and images.

A Simple Grunge piece today, again from my sketchbook scanned into the computer. "Samuel" is the title of this fictional face. I used Painter 8 for the watercolor and Corel's PhotoPaint for the rest of the image manipulation. A texture stretched to fit added some flavor to the piece.

Yesterday I got out my songbook of my own tunes and practiced playing and singing. I find I have tempo problems if I start with a specific tempo I tend to gravitate to it with the next song. So I need to be careful of the tempo I use for each practice session and each tune. I do have a electronic metronome on the computer but I don't always practice in front of it. So it is an exercise in memory and patience. But I so enjoy the time I spend playing the 12-string and singing.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - The River
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Ransom Note Grunge Typography - Guitars

Could not resist the desire to use as many grunge fonts as I could on one image. "Owning Multiple Guitars Must be Fun" is such a piece. Like the ransom notes referred to when digital design was younger, I used a number of fonts to express my desire to own more than one guitar.

I added some Vector work as well. I used primarily PhotoPaint and CorelDRAW. A sand textured background with Thredgeholder filtered multiple guitar image. Duplication of one image and the addition of two others done using object properties Color Burn and Difference. I used some symbols, fitting text to a path, spiral tool, and the freehand drawing tool.

I have been working on recording my song "Who, What Where, When Why and How?" I am using a chord progression that I really like.

Capo on the third fret: D Em F#m, for the verses, G A F#m Bm, G A G A, for the chorus. I have recorded it three times now, this last time with my son singing a soft background to it. The song is coming along, I don't have any lead at this point as it is more Folk Rock than anything else. I may not add any lead as it doesn't seem to need it.

It is coming along fairly well. My son liked the simplicity of it and I respect his opinions.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Collective Soul - Dandy Life
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In Love and Just Married

Weddings another rite of passage for many. We attended this one last night. It was a very nice wedding ceremony and reception. The wedding talk was good and the vows went without a hitch. The food at the reception was good, and the cake rich. It was an honor to be there.

I opened this photograph in Paint.NET and used the Effects> Artistic> Ink Sketch> filter on it, upping the coloring and decreasing the ink saturation. I did not want the image to be too dark.

The couple was dancing their first dance together when this was taken. For those who are fashion conscious the colors were Teal and Black for the groomsmen and bridesmaids.

I am going to share all of my music with a close friend who is a really great guy and musician songwriter. We have collaborated in the past on about three songs, mostly for the fun of it. One of the songs I recorded with a small microphone and no Toneport, just through the PC's on board sound card. "Reasons to Hold On" (© Rial / Gatzka) is a nice tune and we recorded it with two male vocals, myself and my son, and one female vocal, my wife, accompanied by my 12-string guitar.

We played this recording and sang / lip-synced to it at my daughter's wedding as a surprise for her and her new husband. My daughter cried, but it is not a sad song, she just was overcome by emotion. That was another nice wedding.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - GDEmAmD
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Wall of Sound - Guitars

Some times it is great to have friends and family to share music with. As I have mentioned before, it is good to have an audience for your music.

This afternoon I had the opportunity to share with an old friend, whom I recently have made contact with again online. He sent me a file of one of his recent works and I did the same. Now, our styles are very different, but that is refreshing.

It was great to do and get feedback from one another. When you are not feeling well the internet can help you keep a good outlook. Such was the case today for me.

Today's image is another Common Creative license from Flickr. Attribution is on the image itself.

I used PhotoPaint and then Thredgeholder to create a sketch, copied it to the clipboard and then overlapped it upon the original photograph which I had used KPT's Collection Pyramid Paint filter. Using the Object Properties I change it to Multiply and then dropped it onto the background.

I then created a Tritone image and converted it back to RGB to save and share here.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Like I've Never Been Refused
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Singing Lessons

I've never had singing lessons, I didn't have them at school, or privately. This makes me wonder about the quality of my singing. I have a fairly nice voice, it has only a fair range, and low stamina for long drawn out notes. At times it can get gravelie, like stones in the throat, if I am straining too much.

I do all my songwriting and guitar playing and singing by ear. I am not a trained musician. I really wonder how much better I would be if I had taken more music in school and college. I did take some music theory in college, but it was only a low depth class, I did get a 4 point grade for it though.

So I have entitled this image "Singing Lessons" as it shows the parts of the body that are used in singing and it is backed up by the guitar image.

I looked up "singing" and found that Wikipedia talked about how singing takes place physically: "In its physical aspect, singing has a well-defined technique that depends on the use of the lungs, which act as an air supply, or bellows; on the larynx, which acts as a reed or vibrator; on the chest and head cavities, which have the function of an amplifier, as the tube in a wind instrument; and on the tongue, which together with the palate, teeth, and lips articulate and impose consonants and vowels on the amplified sound. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they are nevertheless coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are made to interact upon one another.^[2] During passive breathing, air is inhaled with the diaphragm while exhalation occurs without any effort. Exhalation may be aided by the abdominal, internal intercostal and lower pelvic muscles. Inhalation is aided by use of external intercostals, scalenes and sternocleidomastoid muscles. The pitch is altered with the vocal cords. With the lips closed, this is called humming."

Hmmm, humming, always with the lips closed. The image goes right along with this description. Singing involves a lot more than we usually think about when doing it. We just 'sing' and don't give it much thought.

I have found that the use of a capo allows me more range if used on the 2nd or 3rd fret. But musically I don't know what that means as far as what key I am singing in. Pathetic isn't it. A songwriter not knowing these things. I know the 3rd fret is the note 'G' on the 'E' string but that doesn't translate into anything intellectually for me.

I am certain I have many bad habits I have learned over the years without musical training. I know basics like the tuning of the guitar, some harmonics, some of the fret notes, but I am woefully lost in reading music or even tabulature. I can 'sight' read music by knowing that the note is either going higher or lower on the scale, and know that 'Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge' and 'FACE'. But is that really reading music scales, hardly.

All I do know is that by ear much can be accomplished. I do write songs, or do I "make them up"? I guess that is for the professional musicians to debate. I like what I do and that enjoyment for me is making music, even if I am untrained.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Train - Respect
via FoxyTunes

Vector - Three Singers Trace and Guitar

I continue with the guitar motif today, and vector art. I really like the way CorelTRACE does a nice job of vectorizing bitmapped images. It leaves something to the imagination as it simplifies the image.

Another photograph by my son, Keir M Gatzka. I traced it and added to it. I created another vector guitar in CorelDRAW using a design from VectorJungle. I had found more cyber plants design there and selected one that suggested the shape of an electric guitar. I added the body, the strings and tuning top. It is a multi-stringed guitar meant to emulate a 12-string. I placed the guitar, resizing it to fit the piece. I had taken some of the microphone stand and placed it in front of the guitar as you would see at a real show.

The image gives the impression that we are listening to a group singing and playing music. It is my piece for today.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Broadband Blues
via FoxyTunes

The Gossamer Veil and other Stories

Speaking about years ago, I found this image on a Zip100 disk and I promptly took it to my Mac G4 and Photoshop 7.

It is either 1969 or 1970 I was about 19/20 years old at the time. I used Photoshop's Artistic filters on it. Yes, that is my old Harmony 6-string and it looks like I'm playing a D chord. I also did the large artwork behind me, in blacklight paints no less. That piece was shown at the then called Pontiac Mall now called Summit Place Mall during a spring art show.

I learned acoustic and played electric using a Woody pickup even back then. I remember learning "House of the Rising Sun" as one of the first songs I played on a regular basis. Most of my songs I wrote then were love songs or imitations of songs like "Eve of Destruction" and Beatles\Dylan. I was really starstruck in those days, like many I wanted to make music my lifestyle. So I emulated the stars I liked. Although I could not play as good as "Jimi Hendrix" (Jimi Hendrix Experience) or "Eric Clapton" (Cream Disraeli Gears) I had dreams of being a singer songwriter.

As I look back I humbly admit that I probably did not have what it takes to make a star. Like so many I have continued to play and write but more for pleasure than anything. I am working on a song called "The Gossamer Veil" which the lyrics were written in the mid 1990's. It's a song about how difficult it is to communicate between persons in interpersonal relationships. The "Veil" hangs as a barrier to full understanding and feelings we personally have. Good Communication is a key to interpersonal relationships. But it is very difficult at times when our background and experiences are different, even cultural differences.

The chord progression is pretty basic. But it is an interesting set and great to work with. I have the song melody and chorus and some backup written and a raw recording. The lyrics needed quite a bit of cutting and correcting, but I am happy with the song so far. It still needs polishing. I may add a positive verse to it but it is already over the 4 minute length, I have been known to write 5 minute songs (or longer.) Not sure I can keep the listener's interest that long!

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Alison Krauss - Nothin'
via FoxyTunes

More Singing and Guitar Playing

More singing more guitar playing more photograph manipulation. I used a variety of tools and filters in Paint.NET and PhotoPaint for this image.

I played with the lines, texture, gamma, saturation in creating this image. I added a small frame to it using the 3D bevel effect tool in PhotoPaint.

I searched my CorelDRAW Cds for photoframes and found some that I haven't used yet. Mainly because they aren't the edging I'm looking for. I'm looking for edges like the polaroid emulsion photographs that were popular a while back. I may try to duplicate that myself but I'm not sure where to start as yet. A challenge for myself!

If you know of a technique for making such frames/backgrounds let me know with a comment here. I would appreciate it. Be it in Photoshop 7 or PhotoPaint I would try it out if you comment about it.

I found some new chord progressions that I am playing on the guitar, hoping to inspire a few new songs. I like what I've found, now comes the melody and lyrics. Sometime that is the hardest part.

I remember a movie with Michael Fox where his character turned on the televison and took a phrase from an old movie and used it as a beginning phrase for a song. Joan Jett was in it with him. I can't seem to remember the name of the movie right now. Brain fog, I'm showing my age again!

Anyway waiting for the ideas to come. I'll play the progessions, sing a little with them, practice that and then wait some time for the lyrics to develop.

Or maybe I'll do what Michael Fox did!

Two Singers

Two Singers is a music related image that is not about guitars but performance. Two very differing voices sharing a moment in time singing together. Music is not only the instruments one uses but the voice one uses as well.

My voice doesn't have much range and certainly not the force it had when I was a younger man. But I still enjoy singing a great song, an oldie or one of my own making.

Both of these two young men are multi-talented musically and are really good songwriters. One is absolutely a genius with computer recording and is very much the perfectionist. (He is on the right) He started playing piano at 3 or 4 years old. And has programmed an operating system starting at a young age.

He has used Renoise, a computer program for music editing to great success. He is just plain good at it!

The other young man writes and sings his own compositions, too. He has written many really good songs, musically and lyrically. (On the left) His song can be soothing love songs. But I am certain he can rock as well.

This photograph was taken by my son and manipulated by myself. I used Paint.NET and PhotoPaint to make this piece.

Centered Peaks

I worked on a Cover of the Beatles "Norwegian Wood"; I found in an older Guitar magazine "Acoustic Guitar". Using the Toneport UX1 and a drum track that I slowed down in Audacity I sang a dual vocal and played the 12-string. I used a guitar tone and style patterned after George Harrison for the rhythm guitar.

Try as hard as I did I still could not duplicate the Lead Guitar. It was beyond my capability for now anyway. So it is drums, rhythm guitar, first vocal, and second vocal. Singing is enjoyable and playing a classic song was really fun.

Gearbox allows so many choices that sometimes you have to be selective in order to get a balanced sound. Making covers of Beatles' songs is really fun as you add your own style to it.

I also wanted to share another one of my manipulated photographs from Alaska. I used Corel's PhotoPaint and KPT'c Collection Pyramid Paint filter. I upped the saturation a bit and lightened up the gamma slightly. I also had cropped out a fence in the right had corner which made for a better overall image.