Change of Pace - Landscape

I decided to create an image that is a change of pace from my usual motifs of custom cars and guitars. I selected a photograph of my Nephew's home in Alaska. I wanted to try out some more of the plug-in filters I recently downloaded for Paint.NET.

I opened the photograph in Paint.NET and used the first filter on it - Effect> Artistic> Stewien Filters> Kuwahara Filter Modified> which gave me a painted look. Almost a paint by number appearance.

There are two vehicles in the driveway, you can make them out by the colors bronze and black. There is also an individual walking that you can no longer make out.

In addition to this filter I applied the Effects> Artistic> Collage Paint> filter which I described in my last post. I used a folder of fractal images I had created and applied them with a lower transparency setting so as to be able to make out the house and other details. Lastly I used Adjustments> Curves> to deepen the colors.

The image has a lot of texture and I really like texture in my pieces. I am enjoying my foray into using these new plug-in filters with Paint.NET.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Everyday
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Mosaic Collage - Multiple Guitars

Recently I did some research on plug-ins for Paint.NET and discovered many free filter and adjustment plug-ins. Today I used one of the new ones called Mosaic Maniac Collage Paint.

First I took six photographs of guitars, taken by myself with my Canon Rebel, and made a collage of them in Picasa 3. Saving that I opened Paint.NET and applied the filter described above. It takes the contents of a folder of images and applies them in a collage fashion using the photograph collage as a basis for the way it applies colors.

As you can see it results in an image that is both a collage of photographs but a mosaic of images. I saved that file and opened PhotoPaint and a grunge background. I superimposed the mosaic collage over that as an object and applied the Object Property of Multiply to allow the color and texture to show through.

I merged all layers and objects to form the image of Multiple Guitars in a Mosaic Collage.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Something Amazing
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Dreaming Guitars - Visions

My last post talked about the connection between and artist and his instrument. Today I am sharing an image of guitars superimposed upon one another in a jumbled dream like image.

The artist may dream of his instrument between practice and creation of new pieces of music. This image is only one way to get the feel for such a relationship.

To create this piece I first used Picasa 3's Collage feature. I selected as the property of type as "superimposed" after selecting seven photographs. The dream like collage was created almost instantly, it only took a few moments to superimpose all the selected photographs.

I saved that collage image and opened it in PhotoPaint. I used the Tone Curve tool to add depth to the colors and upped the saturation a bit to highlight color. This brought the multiple guitars into a better focus for presentation. I saved the larger image and then resampled it for the web.

The artist and his instrument, a relationship deep with feeling.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - toneport_test2B
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Dreaming Guitars - Visions

My last post talked about the connection between and artist and his instrument. Today

Two Guitars One Flare

Continuing with the guitar motif I created today's image. I used Paint.NET to open, resize and combine layers using a guitar photo and a grunge background. I used the Pencil Sketch filter on the guitar layer before merging the layers, applying the Color Burn layer property.

I saved that file and opened it in PhotoPaint to use KPT's Collection Lens Flare to add the video flare to the image. the expression I am after is the feeling of the attachment that a musician, in this case the guitar player, can have with his instrument. At times the two meld into one as the music flows freely,

The flare represents that connection between artist and instrument. The background expressed the depth of feeling generated. The music comes from inside as the two work together in creation.

If you look closely you can see another guitar in the upper left background. It is like an echo of the first though it has 12 strings instead of six. This represents harmony for the artist and his instrument. Working together the music is accomplished.

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Now playing: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Norwegian Wood Cover
via FoxyTunes