Seaing is Believing

 

 

Seaing is believing. Mixed media digital surface design. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Seaing is believing. Mixed media digital surface design. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

This week the Spoonflower design challenge is to use watercolors (or digital watercolor brushes) to create a whimsical surface patterns inspired by fantasy creature motifs. I know that the Seahorse is a real creature, but to me they have always seemed magical.

I used both digital watercolor brushes and hand-painted watercolor for this design. You can see the digital brush layers on some of the Sand Dollars. The Seahorses are all hand-painted.

Voting begins today. This challenge sponsored by Skillshare. The top winners will take home Spoonflower credit and a Skillshare Premium subscription to start learning everything from how to create a surface design using motifs to “The Basics of Photoshop”, “Hand Lettering” and so much more! And, for the first time ever, all submissions into May’s design challenges are automatically entered to win the grand prize full of design goodies worth over $1000!

Here is a closer look.

Seaing is believing. Mixed media digital surface design. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Seaing is believing. Mixed media digital surface design. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

I drew some dots, and circles and spots, and used them to suggest air bubbles, sand and pebbles. The watercolor was applied using a clipping mask. Here is a short video that shows how it is done. I know some of this may be too complicated, for those of you that do not use Photoshop, but the basic principal is easy to understand. It is just like cut and paste from the olden days!

I started by deciding on a palette, sunset hues.

Sunset palette

Sunset palette

I am working on a companion piece as well. This will be on a smaller scale than you see here. This collection will lend itself to quilting or children’s clothing projects. I will also do this using different colors for the background.

Sand Dollars. Digital surface design. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Sand Dollars. Digital surface design. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Thanks so much for taking the time to vote, I can’t make top ten without you!

 

LYA Side Swap

 

Val van der Poel.

Val van der Poel.

I received this wonderful watercolor from my good friend Val in BC Canada. Val works in many mediums, and she is consistently learning and growing her skills in new areas.  She works in paper quilling, watercolors, acrylics, oils, pen & ink, charcoal, mixed media and, recently, fabric art.

Not only that, she teaches too! I can always count on Val to give a sincere evaluation of my work. Be sure to visit her site and treat yourself to her fabulous work!

On the back of the card:

This is what I feel about art;
“Art is a Gift. Whether you make it, give it or receive it, I hope you will cherish it!”

Wonderful thought. And yes, I do cherish your card! Hugs and best wishes to you as well Val. Thanks so much for sharing your work with me. Your mountains are inspiring, and your pines and poppies are perfect! Love this view!

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 thoughts on “Seaing is Believing

  1. Dotty Seiter

    I’ve voted—glad I didn’t miss the opportunity when I missed the arrival of this post! Your surface design work fascinates me and I love your entering contests regularly. You rock! Thanks for sharing Val’s colorful patchwork, too.

    Reply
    1. Sheila Post author

      Aww, thanks Dotty. I am so glad I am not boring you with my vote requests. I have neglected that area too long. So pleased Val swapped with me, her mountains are wonderful, and the red poppies just make me smile 🙂

      Reply
    1. Sheila Post author

      All is well, thanks for checking back Carol 🙂 Being an “adopted” Auntie to a new baby girl might have influenced the palette. LOL. Enjoy Carol 🙂

      Reply
  2. Val van der Poel

    Such wonderful compliments! Thank you so much Sheila and thanks for adding my link. I am so glad you like your card. I went over and voted for your design. I have to say that yours is one of the few I thought would work for fabric – there were some pretty strange ones for this contest – lol. Good luck!

    Reply
    1. Sheila Post author

      You’re welcome Val and I am so happy to have one of your landscapes 🙂 Thanks so much for voting. I agree with you, some strange. The next contest is for an abstract. That should be fun 🙂

      Reply

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