enjoying digital painting

06Oct09

Here’s a digital painting I did of a sunflower, based on a photograph (of course), but worked up as I would do a painting. In this case I have used a pastel-like style and a rough paper effect.

Credit for the photograph goes to Rachel Groves, who does lovely photography and painting works. Her Web site, her photostream on Flickr.

I am having a lot of fun with this, I am using Corel Painter 11 software, a very excellent digital painting program.

I have done a few works like this now and am beginning to get used to the software a little. But right now I am going to jump to the About.com Web site, where there is a lot of fine inspirational information to keep me going exploring software like this. Also, importantly for me, a pile of tutorials in Corel Painter.

Filed under: photography, software   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: corel, corel painter 11, digital painting, image editing software, imaging software, painting, painting software, software, sunflower

painting peaches

21Sep09

I have started playing around with Corel Painter and the more I get into this program, the more I like it.

Corel Painter enables you to create digital works that, for all the world, could be paintings. It has a huge array of markers, from acrylics to watercolour, with chalk, pastels, oils, conte, pencils, pens and loads more along the way. And for each of these, there is a stunning set of sub-choices – size, texture, opacity and the like. I can’t believe that there would be anyone who would fail to find his or her favourite tool.

Lots more: shapes, cloning, layers, transparency, blending … everything you could want. But a devil of a learning curve. Luckily, in About.com, there are lots of tutorials and I am sure you would find stuff elsewhere also to help. I followed one of the tutorials in doing my peaches painting above and it was a breeze.

The thing about these tutorials is that you learn one or two simple things, and whole new processes are opened up, things to do to create a picture. Doing it is what matters, reading a manual or the help file is only helpful when you have a basic idea what you are doing and need to check some aspect of how to do it.

There are lots of choices to make the sort of finish you want to see, whether paper, canvas, linen, wood grain and so on.

I love learning this and using it! Having done a bit of painting with oils and acrylics and quite a lot of drawing, it is amazing how real the experience feels. The best bit is when you do the shadows and make your subject jump from the surface. Give it a go!

Another thing – now I can do pictures like this, I can make all sorts of new cards!

I should say that I have no connection with Corel Corporation.

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Tags: corel, corel painter, fun with software, painting aoftware, software

brief encounters

16Sep09

Having a bit of spare time at the shopping centre yesterday, I took it into my head to buy myself a book or magazine. So I went first to the bookshop, one of the bigger chains of bookshops in Australia.

I was in the fiction area staring dully at the shelves of mediocre muck that passes for “good reading” these days when a grey-haired be-spectacled woman bobbed up at my elbow.

“Can I help you?”

“Well,” I said, quick as a flash, “do you have At Home in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen?”

Gulp. “Err, no, I haven’t heard of that one. Home in the …”

“At Home in the Fields of the Lord” I said, ever the pedant.

“Ahh … no. What sort of books do you usually read?”

“Picture books, mainly.”  Looking back on it, this was probably not helpful.

“Do you like murder books?”

“No.”  “Could you get that book for me?”

“Home in the …”

“At Home …”

We went to the counter and her computer.

“Home in the Fields of the Lord?”

“At Home in the Fields of the Lord.”

She types into the computer … “Hum …. it’s not coming up. Is this a new book?”

“Oh good grief no it is quite old.”

“We’ll try by author. M-a …”

“M-a-t-t …”

“M-a-t-t …”

“..h-i-e ..”

“..h-i-e ..”

“s-s-e-n.”

“s-s-e-n. Matthiessen,” she said. … “I’ve got a Stephen Matthiessen.”

“It’s Peter.”

“Stephen …”, as if to say “Will that do?” Trying to help.

“It’s Peter.”

“What’s it about?”

“Well, err, um, I don’t know actually, I’ve seen the film but that doesn’t necessarily relate to the book, does it?” I said in a smart alecky sort of way, feeling some futility creeping in. Maybe if I had read the book I could tell her about it, but then I wouldn’t want to buy it, would I?

“What sort of book is it?”

Stumped by this question and momentarily forgetting the word literature, I went off at a tangent: “Do you know Vladimir Nabokov?”

I think she had paled by now. Or maybe I had. Or more likely I was getting flushed.

“I’ve heard the name. Can I help with anything else?”

Help? Help? “No thanks, I’ll just browse a bit.”

I had a look at the photography books, then shuffled out soon after, not giving her a glance, to look at the magazines in the newsagent’s shop next door.

I remembered on the way home that the book is called “At Play in the Fields of the Lord”. Help me, someone …

Filed under: books, conversations, my story   |  2 Comments
Tags: books, literature, peter matthiessen, at play in the fields of the lord, bookshop, senior moments, bookstore

digital painting – Tom Waits

11Sep09

I have been really enjoying playing around learning a bit about Corel Painter – the best painting program around, I reckon. A steep learning curve but my first effort turned out like this:

Now, I know this is a bit messy – that is partly my style – if I wanted a photo-realistic image I would grab a photo. But I think I have got the essence of Tom, with that hat, the tilt of the head and especially the distinguishing upper and bottom lip. Maybe not too well, but I am pleased with this first effort. I’ll get better – I hope! – as I do more.

I think it is obvious that I started with an image of Tom. I found I could do a beautiful clone/copy, but what would be the point of that? Corel Painter has such a choice of media – maybe 40 or so markers, brushes of all kinds, oils, acrylics, pencils, chalk, pastel … and so many choices within each category it is a bit overwhelming. But if you want to make a mark of some kind, I am sure there will be the tool to do it for you.

If you have ever done real painting, and I have, then you will be delighted with the feel of this program and I thoroughly recommend it to you. And no mess to clean up afterwards!

I should say I have nothing to do with nor do I represent the Corel corporation.

Filed under: tom waits   |  4 Comments
Tags: corel, corel painter, digital painting, having fun, learning software, painting, picture making, software, tom waits

to get the best result?

17Aug09

When you get a shot like this (unprocessed, straight from the camera, taken from a bus window):

… would you:

• straighten it?
• crop it?
• make it black and white/greyscale?
• or, just maybe — ditch it!

… or some combination of these effects? Go on, tell me, I want to know.

I suspect it depends on what the image is for.

Filed under: australia, new south wales, photography, software, sydney   |  6 Comments
Tags: cropping, finishing an image, image, making greyscale

my trip to Sydney

17Aug09

I have just had a great trip to Sydney. Several things were going for it, to make it a good one:

• The weather was excellent for mid-winter.
• I was going to what turned out to be an exciting recital by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan – one of the most esteemed players of the Indian sarod. He was accompanied by two tabla drummers.
• I caught up with my elder daughter
• I had a great chance to get some photographs—for various reasons I have been starved of taking photographs for some time and I have been longing to get to the city to make a change from the lines of nature I am stuck with otherwise in our lakes and beaches. Not that I should complain about the lakes and beaches—surely there is an infinity of pictures in these subjects. But I just wanted a change.

Before I line up my thoughts on some of the music and other experiences I enjoyed, here’s a teaser in the form of one of the snaps I got (as I said, more by luck than judgement). This old guy was on a bench by the hotel I used.

resting

Filed under: australia, new south wales, photography, sydney   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: black and white, man sleeping on bench, park st, resting, sydney

cleaning out malware

15Aug09

For what it is worth:

My PC collected a Trojan somewhere along the line, it was opening Internet Explorer and going to various gaming sites.

I tried cleaning it out with Windows Defender – detected nothing. Then I tried the avast! Anti-Virus software – nothing.

I found something called SUPERanitspyware, downloaded it and it found a heap of malware, which it corralled and then deleted for me.  Nice, no more problems.

I have no connection to any of the organisations that provide these products (all of which are free, by the way, there is only so much you can do as a pensioner).

Filed under: software   |  2 Comments
Tags: computers, deleting trojans, malicious software, malware, software, SUPERantispyware, tojans, virus

playing with software … again!

09Aug09

I like playing around with software. Not so I can produce wonderful presentations (gah! is the day of PowerPoint over yet?), slides, images and so on. But just for the fun of seeing what software is and what it does.

[Forgive me if you have read me going on about this before, but it comes up each time I find a new toy.]

Well, a new toy I have found. It is the Google (yes, them again) sidebar.  I found a link to it from Wired How-To (link on Wired’s main page), one of my favourite places on the Web or should that be on the Internet, I know they are different but cannot remember which is which.

Firstly, here’s a screenshot of it, along with the Web page where I found the link to Google’s bits and pieces, listed along with lots and lots of other how-tos under the heading of software.

There is a how-to on the Wired site under another heading, Be an Expert on Anything, which I wish I had read forty or fifty years ago.

Things I like about it include:

• it lists and lets me play with my recent Google online docs
• it doesn’t get hidden by your browser window and is easily hidden (for more room on the desktop, for example) although at the moment I have forgotten how to do that!
• it gives me local news headlines
• it tells me the weather in Sydney (we are a bit north of Sydney, but Sydney is what we would call home, I think)
• it’s got a nice analogue clock, which I love
• it cycles through the pictures on my hard drive
• it has an easy-to-use scratch pad
• it has Web clips (haven’t explored this yet)
• there is a host of other gadgets I can load

The sharp-eyed among you will note that I am using Orca browser and no doubt say “what the hell??!!”.  Well, it’s different and actually pretty fast, got lots of nice things about it and I like playing with software, remember?

You’ll find the Orca browser here if you are interested.  I suppose it’s unlikely you’ll be as mad as me.  It calls itself “the fastest browser on earth”.  This is good for folk like me who have not a second to waste.

Just digressing for the moment, but still on software, I have been trying Corel’s Photo Paint in lieu of Adobe Photoshop and I like it a lot. It’s not high-charged like Corel’s more powerful Paint Shop Pro, which rrivals Photoshop, but I am finding these Corel products a nice change. Corel Photo Paint is good and simple and I find there is little that I can’t do easily without going to Adobe Photoshop.  But don’t trust its “Auto Adjust” feature. Unless you are actually looking for weird effects.  I think it is only available as part of Corel’s CorelDRAW Graphics Suite.

Filed under: around home, software   |  1 Comment
Tags: adobe, adobe photoshop, corel, corel paint shop pro, corel photo paint, google, google sidebar, orca browser, playing with software, software, software comparisons

feeling clever … !!

28Jul09

I am feeling very clever tonight.  I managed something on my digital camera that I have not done before.

This afternoon, being diabetic and feeling a bit of a hypo coming on, I stopped for a cup of coffee and a snack to boost my glucose levels.

I always like cafe candid snapshots, so of course I had to do what I could to get a picture.  This was the best I managed to start with:

[From the EXIF data, this was 1/320 at f5.6 using 200 ASA.]

Obviously no good – the camera on auto-pilot not accommodating the light “properly”, i.e. to show what was in shadow. (Maybe you like it as it is and that could make a picture, but it is not what I was after.) So I had to have a try at doing a manual setting, something I have never needed – or never bothered – to do before. But I wanted that shot!

I fiddled a bit, no doubt looking very suspicious to the other patrons, not that there were many of us, as you can see. And I managed to come up this:

[From the EXIF data, this was 1/30 at f8 using 200 ASA.]

I was so pleased with myself!  I got it in one! What I thought I was doing was cranking up the exposure at some aperture or other – or I might have been doing vice versa, I don’t know. AlI know is that I set the (digital) camera that I had with me, a Fuji Finepix s5600, to “manual” and went for it.  Good result, I am so pleased!

Here is a black and white version of this result:

Oh, and a slice of mango and macadamia tart did wonders to stave off my hypo! Yummy. My favourite cafe in the area (Cafe Macquarie in Belmont, New South Wales, Australia – drop in if you are passing by).

Filed under: my story, new south wales, photography   |  4 Comments
Tags: cafe, camera manual setting, candid camera, compensating for light levels, EXIF data, finepix s5600, indoor photography, photography

got restless leg syndrome?

19Jul09

(Warning – quite long blog ahead.)

Have you got restless leg syndrome (RLS) like I have?  We are not alone – my favourite author, Vladimir Nabokov suffered too. It is thought that 5% of the population (I suppose we are talking Western countries here) suffers also.

For those not familiar with this insidious and disturbing condition, restless leg syndrome is described so:

“The sensations are unusual and unlike other common sensations, and those with RLS have a hard time describing them. People use words such as: uncomfortable, “antsy”, electrical, creeping, painful, itching, pins and needles, pulling, creepy-crawly, ants inside the legs, numbness, and many others. The sensation and the urge can occur in any body part; the most cited location is legs, followed by arms. Some people have little or no sensation, yet still have a strong urge to move.” (Wikipedia, but no citation given; but it describes what I suffer.)

Well, last night, I had had to get up (as always) soon after going to bed, due to an excess of twitching and restlessness, and was pecking away - browsing the Internet in a desultory way – when I came across wonderful information about the condition.

I found Restless Leg Syndrome Australia’s Web site.  This is a great site and you can get a pile of information about this tedious twitching:

• Fact File On RLS
• What Causes RLS?
• Treatments for RLS
• Stories from people with RLS
• RLS FAQs

If you have or think you have restless leg syndrome, please visit the site – there is so much of interest there and, for a change, some real information that is so helpful.

If I have understood things correctly, the opinion is now growing that RLS is caused by a lack of iron so that some node or function area of the brain goes a bit haywire.  So treatment with iron supplements are recommended – but please do not rush off and throw iron down your throat – drugs taken to manage psychiatric conditions are thought to have a hand in this also.

But – a simple leg-stretching routine before going to bed is recommended and that is what I am going to start doing. Here’s a link to a great page that summarises the “facts” (as much as anything is a fact in the human body). And here’s a copy of the exercise diagram:

Here’s an abstract from that sheet (thanks to Professor John Murtagh and Australian Doctor magazine):

“Self-help
You may have found that something works
for you …

• Avoid any substances or factors that you
  know or suspect affect you.
• Use activities that can reduce symptoms,
  for example, a modest amount of walking
  before bedtime, massage or prescribed exercises
  (see figure). NB: getting out of bed
  and going for a walk or run does not seem
  to help.
• Good sleep hygiene, namely, regular sleeping
  hours, gradual relaxation at bedtime,
  avoidance of non-sleep activities in bed, eg,
  reading, eating.
• Diet. Follow a very healthy diet. Avoid caffeine
  drinks, smoking and alcohol.
• Try keeping the legs cooler than the body
  for sleeping.
• Exercises. A popular treatment is gentle
  stretching of the legs, particularly of the
  hamstring and calf muscles for at least five
  minutes before retiring. This can be done by
  using a wide crepe bandage, scarf or other
  length of material around the foot to stretch
  and then relax the legs (as in figure [above]).”

I am going to try this stretching. Good luck!  Let me know how you get on.

Filed under: my story   |  7 Comments
Tags: disturbed sleep, legs disorder, medical, not sleeping, restless leg syndrome, restless legs, RLS, twitching legs