works in progress and stamping...

Lately I have been posting "works in progress" on our Facebook page and I have found people are quiet interested in the process.  I hope to begin making short videos as well... but first I will have to learn to do some video editing.
For now, I wanted to share these photos with you.

This was a drawing I began with the central figure. Her face was quite large and she looked angry. I began to transform her and in the process her neck became very elongated (her face came down to the black line on the white of her neck).  At the same time I realized that the hair on the figure near the bottom looked sort of strange, so I changed that too.
Changing the neck and the hair game the whole middle of the image too much uninteresting space.

This is where stamps come in handy!

I made swirls with a thick ink pen, and then added the black butterflies into the large space.... voila! I love it now!

And to think that less than a year ago I had never utilized stamps... I saw them as a sort of "cheating" on art work to use someone else's art. 
Now I happily make use of them (especially butterflies).... and perhaps I will make my own stamps in the future....though I like the juxtaposition of a stylized stamp with my own work.

I am still discovering the world of stamps... so far the only ones I have used I have purchased at my local craft store, and I only use the most basic stamp pad...though I have seen inks for the pads, embossing (still don't really understand what that is all about, but the sparkly colors look interesting)-- it is exciting to know that although I never thought I would work outside of traditional oil paints and charcoal... these last few years have brought me into a totally different world in the arts. I have to thank the recession for that.... as people could no longer afford my large oil paintings.... I turned to watercolor and mini canvases...and that has opened up a whole new world.

Although I look forward to getting back to my large canvas pieces... I am having loads of fun with mixed media, watercolors, stamping etc!

Funny how downturns in life...can lead us to interesting side paths in life!  Any stories you have to share? Have you discovered something new because you have had to cut corners economically?  I would love to hear about it!

Love & Light,
Claudia