Just Graphics

Sometimes I like to manipulate photos, sometimes paint, and sometimes just do graphics. Tonight, I just took some graphics that I have been playing with for over a year and combined them into a poster which I named "GIRLY THINGS", which will become one of my Hot Colors Series of work.
To make these I take a black background, which by the way is a photo, and narrow my brush in my photo tools to an appropriate size for drawing. What I draw is a transparent cutaway. So as I draw, the area is cut from the background, and anything I put behind it shows through. In the "Girly Things" collage, I used multi-shaded hot colors to place behind the pictures, which produces a glow effect. The Gerbera Daisy stamp in the center of the collage is an art piece in itself. The "Girl in a Swing" block is also a poster by itself, part of my Rejoice Series of artworks. The lacey frames I use in several types of art, including cards and calendars. They are also transparent, and I change the colors behind them for effect.  I often like just white behind the black, though.
The deep black background can not be achieved from color charts. It has to be a photo. It requires a generous amount of ink to print, but the color is worth it.