Day 14 Of 30

30 Replies

 

 

Lavender Dreams. 6 x 6 in. watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Lavender Dreams. 6 x 6 in. watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

 

Another glorious sunset. And my attempt to capture it.  I can say I had fun working on this. And it came quickly.  Still, there are several things I’d change if I could.

The wash in the sky is far too light, and the clouds far too dark. The wash actually looks deeper in person, and the moon does stand out a bit more. When I started with the clouds, the colors were much too light, and I just overcompensated.

The pink on the top cloud was drying too dark, I added more white gouache to the mix, and you can see the result.

My first photo of the sun setting, I thought “WOW! Look at that!”

Sunset-Moon--1

Moon rise over Mingus. SMD

And then it got better!

Sunset-Moon

Moon rise over Mingus #2. SMD

Any wonder ancient Egyptians worshipped the sun?

 

 

Moon rise over Mingus #3. SMD

Moon rise over Mingus #3. SMD

Wishing you all a super weekend! Thanks so much for visiting, always great to hear from you!

 

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30 thoughts on “Day 14 Of 30”

  3. Janet Bradish

    You have a million dollar view and endless inspiration. Rich colours and the lights and darks make the whole painting sing.

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    1. Sheila Post author

      So glad you like it Janet. We got very lucky with this lot! And that the houses across the street are set so far apart. Have fun today!

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    1. Sheila Post author

      True Rachel, very fast 🙂 Glad you like the colors, I need to do more of that. Thanks for the visit 🙂

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  6. blueskyredearthSea Dean

    In Europe there are fairly specific dimensions for painting portraits, landscapes etc. which I don’t find so structured here. They even go to the extent of naming the canvas for the various subject matter (something like P1, P2, L2 etc.). If you are a traditional painter you stick with those formats which makes it simple (one less decision).

    Modern painters generally break convention, which is what you are doing here. Your challenge to squash the scene into the “wrong” shape canvas will upset the traditionalists and excite the non conventional. It also presses you into making a lot more decisions.

    I’ve noticed that you often push the boundaries with your art and I find it charming, fresh and interesting. One of the biggest challenges for an artist is to be distinctive and it is things like this that make you rise above the crowd.

    Keep on pushing the boundaries!

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    1. Sheila Post author

      Sea your description is a surprise to me. Something I am not even aware of. I did not know about the European sizing, but then you are always teaching me (us)! My intention was to have more area for the sky and clouds. And the hills should have been a more distant view. I am laughing, because I struggled with this. I re-drew the hills several times. Still don’t feel I got it right.
      Thank you for your detailed critique Sea. Most appreciated my friend. Enjoy your weekend creating! You have me on the edge of my seat, wondering if you will show a digital masterpiece, or a traditional painting 🙂

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  7. Val van der Poel

    Fabulous sky to try to paint! I wonder that you didn’t use a 6 x 12 format to show how the long sweep of the land is almost mirrored by the cloud. Your cloud colours are great and I like the touches of green you put in the mountains. I almost never see sunsets or sunrises as our house is surrounded by forest – all I see are trees. lol.

    Reply ↓
    1. Sheila Post author

      That sounds nice too Val! Love trees! All we have are two scrawny onesin back, and the two small pine trees in front. Gonna be awhile before they are tall. Pheonix has beautiful trees, their trunks are black, some are a vivid green. I think the green are younger trees. But they do not grow up here. 🙁
      I will be painting this one again, and I may use a different format. Thanks for visiting Val! have fun with your creating this weekend 🙂

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  10. Nelvia

    Wow oh wow, what a absolutely super view you have and the lovely sunset. No wonder you can’t just capture it if it morphs like that. A new wonder a moment. You certainly got the feel in this one. I think it is always hard to put such a dark cloud color against the light sky, you think it must be wrong, but sky colors can be so unusual.

    Reply ↓
    1. Sheila Post author

      Hi Nelvia, your right 🙂 It felt way too dark. But part of that might be, for me, that the paint was thicker than I first intended. The view changes so quickly, and so often… it can be distracting 😉

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  12. Dotty Seiter

    The suspension in this scene is striking.

    AND this painting offers rich material for (I can hear you laughing across 3000 miles!) for cutting in half. Play with it. It makes for a dang cool diptych with a vertical split : )

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    2. Sheila Post author

      Hey now, there’s an idea Dotty! Not laughing. Considering! Have a super Saturday, AND Sunday with your grandkiddos!

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  13. louise237

    Sheila, you know how I am an “expert in painting” (don’t laugh too loud I may hear you from across the pond) :)))… I have one question please, why did you paint in a square format while the photos are of landscape one? May be it’s what the challenge require? The colors of your paintings are (as usual) beautiful but (am not being rude) I have the feeling that the squared format “squeezes the immensity”… Hope you don’t mind my comment… Have a nice weekend, under Ra’s gift 🙂

    Reply ↓
    1. Sheila Post author

      The first painting I did was landscape format, and I felt I did not have enough room for the clouds. In the original photo, the sky was twice as high. So maybe that was affecting my thinking. I struggled with drawing the hills on this one, I should have made them much smaller scale. And had a wider section showing. Love the way you worded your comment. I think you are right, I lost the enormity here.
      Thanks for your interest Louise, I hope my answer makes sense. This one was about the clouds for me. I will be doing this again. Have yourself a great weekend as well Louise!

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