Painter 8 Plus Traditional Pastels

I have done today's image using traditional pastels and paper. I took the original photograph and opened it in Painter 8 where I made a drawing/sketch of the young lady. I printed this out in 8.5x11 format on drawing paper then I used my pastels to do the portrait.

After i was done with that scanned in the resulting image and opened it in Painter 8 once again. There I painted the image using textured brushes to give it 'body'.

I love the red hair of this young lady and it's fullness. I did my best to capture the essence of her attractiveness. One aspect of the photograph was her left eye did not show very well so one mostly sees the eyelashes and general shape of it.

I did some recording yesterday afternoon. I used the Toneport and set my microphone setting on "Detroit RnB Vocal". Then I recorded a cover of Neil Young's "Helpless". It is such a short song I lengthened it by singing it twice. I added a simple lead without using my pickup just the microphone with the same vocal setting. I's a sweet song. I am going to cover "Ohio" and "Our House" from the book based on CSNY's Deja Vu album for easy guitar.

In May was the anniversary of the Kent State ("Ohio") shootings, I saw the front page from the New York Times "on this day" blurb. So it has been on my mind.

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

Vector Portrait - Girl with Flowers

With spring come flowers in the gardens. Here is a vector portrait of a gal holding out flowers in her hand. I did this in CorelDraw 12 from a photograph. I use the freehand drawing tool to create the shapes and use the gradient fills to give the flat image some depth.

I like the prepackaged fills for the hair and background of these pieces. The ones that come with CorelDraw. And the gradient fills allow you to select radial fills which give a nice soft appearance to the face and eyes and lips.

I have done a number of these pieces , many in 2008. Taking a photograph and creating a vector image is a challenge I enjoy. I think they turn out fairly good.

Last night I watched the second disk of Eric Clapton's Crossroads DVD done in Texas (I think it was done in 2004). The closing act was ZZTop. The number and quality of guitarists and performers is just amazing. I am constantly fascinated by the talent of these many different guitar players, singer songwriters. Very inspiring. I only wish I was a fast as some of them. I tend to be a middle ground rocker , blues player. My speed for lead playing is only at a comfortable pace and not nearly as quick and nimble as these men are.

It is a great show and I recommned any of Clapton's shows on DVD.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Bruce Springsteen - Down Bound Train
via FoxyTunes

Inky Vines Grow Everywhere

Have you ever noticed how vines tend to overgrow everything in their path. I like fractals so I believe that is why I like vines so much. They tend to replicate like a fractal algorithm.

Take for example this image of vine growth. They are almost covering the tower in the background and the vent in the foreground, too. Another example is the ivy we planted as ground cover in our back yard. It started out just a few plants and now is a luxurious growth covering the ground.

I took this photograph with a 5.2 megapixel camera and the detail was surprisingly good. First I opened the image in PhotoPaint and increased the saturation, and sharpened it a little. Then I opened the photograph in Paint.NET and used the Artistic> Ink Sketch on it to give it a highly stylized detailing of the flowing vines.

As always I resized it in PhotoPaint and gave it a mat like border. I always try to keep the images for the blog to a size that uploads quickly and yet when you click on it you get a large enough picture to see details and the colors.

This inky vine image is very intricate and that's how my mind is working today.

I'd like it if my mind would work on a lyric or a chord progression since I am thinking nice and clear today. But sometimes it just doesn't work that way. Inspiration is what I need! At least I worked on an image thus far and it's only around 5:00 our time so I have some of the day left. I'll just have to see what happens.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Bto - Gimme Your Money Please
via FoxyTunes

Vector Portrait

It is a coincidence that this image looks like one of my nephews as it is not based upon a photograph of him, but it does. I used CorelDRAW 12 to draw this based upon a photograph of unknown origin.

I did get some help with this from a forum, suggestions were made to make some changes that gave the image needed punch.

I used the fills that come with CorelDRAW 12, for the background and foreground. I used the gradient fills for the rest of the face and the shirt.

The suggestions I received concerned the hair and beard. So I added some texture to them with additional fill work.

I have a friend visiting from Missouri and we played around with the Toneport and Gearbox software yesterday. He sang and played my 12-string, Folsom Prison Blues a Johnny Cash tune. He has a deep voice and it recorded very nicely. We played around with the microphone settings and we had some fun. It was an enjoyable time.

He is also a professional photographer - his website is David Benjamin Photography. Take a look and you'll find he is very talented.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Aimee Mann - Its Not Going to Stop
via FoxyTunes

What's a Band without an Audience?

Out of a garage someplace in Michigan a band is playing. What is a band without an audience? It is like the question "If a tree falls in the forest without anyone present, does it make a sound?" Well we all know that technically speaking the sound waves happen but, if no one is there to hear them can it be called sound? My answer has always been yes, sound happens therefore the sound is real whether someone hears it or not.

But a garage band without an audience is sort of a sad thing. The band needs to be appreciated by a group of persons to make the experience complete. So I present an image of a band with an audience for your pleasure.

This group appears to be working hard to please the listeners, and they have a little showmanship to boot. That always makes it more fun for both the band and the audience. I am certain this group is rocking and is moving some in it's group of listeners. As you can see some are listening with eyes closed to the current part of the song, others eyes wide open.

Each listener has his or her own experience related to the band's sound. Perception is an individual reality. And music can take you places. Like oldies can take you back to a time in your mind, so live music can transport you to a different place in your head. One hopes that it is enjoyment that you are experiencing. Certainly the band wants you to be enjoying yourself.

In getting the image ready for presentation I opened it in PhotoPaint and cropped out a lot of head space above the band and audience. I then duotoned it and resizing it I made it useful for the blog.

I hope May will be a great month for all!

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