Artistic endevors....

The weekend has been very pleasant...low key, low stress.  I made cards with my mom and got to play with some new artistic styles.  I invested in some stamps from Stampscapes before we came and was very anxious to try them out.  The artist who creates them has almost 100 videos on how to use them.  He makes it look easy but he has an art degree and understands some basic concepts that I don't yet.  However, it was still fun to play with the technique. It uses dye based stamp pads to stamp images on glossy paper and then stylus type applicators to apply the same dye as color overlays.  I imagine it's similar in theory to what Laurellen is doing.  However, part of the appeal is that it is fast and fairly simple if you understand light and shadows (which I don't quite yet).
I took pictures of the results of both the card making and the dye/stamp painting.

( Cards... )

This was my first attempt.  Attempts two and three were learning experiences.

#4

#5

#6  I tried something different on this one and used a fine paint brush to blend more of the colors.  The colors in the water are still too hot but I couldn't change them at this point.  Highlights in all are done with a white gel pen.  I also used a black felt tip to add in some grass in a couple of places in the last image.

It's all a learning experience and I have no training in art or drawing, which I'm sure shows, but it was also very fun.