Picnik Online Photo Manipulation

Picnik is an online photo manipulation program that allows you to do quite a few "fixes" and "effects" quickly and easily. It can be used as a free program and you do not even have to register. Of course, you can also get a paid version with a yearly subscription that gives you a few extra effects. However, if you have a photo that you want to do a quick fix and are not on your computer with your photo manipulation program, you can quickly and easily do it in Picnik. It is the most user friendly online program I have found. Even the free version is more comprehensive than most other programs.

I did a quick red eye fix in the following photo using the free version of Picnik:



When I saw how easy that was, I thought I would try some other things. My friend, Walter Zimmerman, took several photos of my son's jazz performance with his band at a local café. (I will be writing about that more in another post, including photos, but I still have to view all the photos -- 3 CDs worth -- and choose which ones to upload). I did take one of the photos and played with it. It is one of the nicer photos I have come across of my son and me. I cropped it, added the polaroid border, and some text:


Having a lot of fun with this, I decided to try a few more effects and fixes. I have a photo that I may be working from as a reference for a portrait (I have not decided which of the dozens of photos I will actually be working from). I purposely scanned it without cleaning my scanner bed so there were some glitches on the image. I then cropped and cleaned up the image in Picnik.


Original photo


Blemishes fixed


Vibrance added


Sepia added

There are many more effects and fixes that can be used in the free version. If you want to upgrade to the full version, it is only $24.95/year and it gives you a few more things to play with.

All in all, I am pretty impressed with application. Of course, you cannot compare it to Photoshop or other high end applications. However, for quick fixes and a few fun effects this is a pretty powerful and accessible application. It gives you several options for saving your final image, including saving it directly to Picassa, Facebook, MySpace, and others, and, of course, back onto your computer.

Obama's Playlist

CBC is putting together a playlist of songs for Barack Obama. This is a gift from USA's closest and largest neighbour. The songs are all Canadian in nature. One hundred songs were nominated. We are now voting for the top 49 songs. We can vote once a day, per computer, per category (there are four categories).

This is what it says on their main page:

49 Songs from North of the 49th Parallel

Canadians choose 49 songs from North of the 49th parallel that defines Canada to the new President.

Beginning Monday, January 5, CBC Radio 2 invites Canadians to help select the top “49 songs from north of the 49th parallel” that would best define our country to the incoming U.S. President Barack Obama.

His playlist could definitely benefit from some Canadian content, especially given the depth of our musical offerings – spanning a wide variety of genres and representing our culture from coast to coast.

“One of the best way to know Canada is through the depth and breadth of our artistic expression,” says Denise Donlon, Executive Director, CBC Radio. “We're excited about the new President and we want him to be excited about us, so we're asking our audience to help compile the list of our most definitive Canadian songs!”

Thank you for all your nominations, we have tallied them down to 100 songs. You have until Friday, January 16 at 11 p.m. ET. to vote for your favourites.

So, what Canadian music do you think is the most definitive 49 songs from North of the 49th parallel?

If you are Canadian, and want to vote, you can go to cbc.ca/obamasplaylist

Tobias Cat Miniature (EDM#185)

Tobias Cat Miniature
3" x 4"
Coloured Pencils on
90lb Stongehenge Paper
This is the second piece that I created for the I created it for the 4th Annual Juried Miniature Show & Sale here in London, Ontario at The Art Exchange.

For some reason I find cats very difficult to paint/draw. I like cats but have rarely been around them, except at friends' homes. We used to have cats when I was young and living with my parents. However, both my son and I are allergic to them so we don't live with any cats in our home. Therefore, I am not as familiar with them as cat owners are. We live with four birds, so, that may explain why I enjoy drawing/painting them so much. I am able to study them up close all the time.

This cat ref. photo came from Buck's Blog. He was kind enough to allow me to use any of his kitty photos to help me get over my cat-drawing-phobia. Buck and I have been friends since 1978-79. We were inseparable friends as teens. He is really into public transportation and you may also enjoy his Buck Tracks Blog. I enjoy his photos.

Parrot Miniature (EDM#125)

Parrot
3" x 4"
Coloured Pencil on
90lb Stonehenge Art Paper

The Art Exchange art gallery in London, ON is having it's 4th Annual Juried Miniature Show and Sale in February. I am entering the above image. We are permitted to enter up to two pieces of original art, so I will be creating one more piece before the January 20th deadline.

This little parrot is my first piece for 2009.

Making a Mark by Katherine Tyrrell

As I was blog-hopping I came across a wonderful blog by Katherine Tyrrell. She offers an amazing amount of useful information for artists and bloggers alike.

I am relatively new to blogging, both as a blogger and as a reader. Until recently I had not found any reason to have a blog for myself, and any blogs that I had come across in the last few years did not hold any interest for me. It was not until I started finding artists' blogs that my interest was peeked. Also, many of my friends and colleagues kept urging me to start my own blog. I did attempt a few in the past years but they all sputtered and floundered. I really had nothing to say.

What I really like about Katherine's blog, Making a Mark, is that she shares all kinds of wonderful information about art, computers, blogging, etc. It is more than just a passing few sentences. These posts are in-depth articles and tutorials in themselves. She has fabulous links to online resources on her blog, as well as to interesting topics and other interesting artists. I am particularly thankful for the following posts:

• Notes on Blogging Etiquette for Artists
• Comments Policy
• Ten Tips for Sketching People
  
• The Art of Business

There are many more posts that I also enjoy, but there are too many to post so it is best if you just visit the Making a Mark blog for yourself. I can spend hours going through Katherine's blog, following links, noting ideas, etc.

Katherine's own work is beautiful to behold. She could have easily just had a site to show off her work without sharing all the good info with the rest of us. However, I am thankful that she has chosen to share what she discovers with us.

This is a site I would recommend to anyone interested in art, the business of art, and in blogging.

Also, a quick note:
I added our family Christmas photos to my Christmas Message of December 25th, and you are welcome to go view them.