Author Archives: Sheila

Changing Vistas

 

Gull at Sea. Watercolor sketch. 2016 Sheila Delgado

Gull at Sea. Watercolor sketch. 2016 Sheila Delgado

Didn’t plan on disappearing for two weeks. Had a post half ready. Important projects half done. Then, time to pack and leave for a week on the water.

My good friends celebrating their daughter. A wedding cruise to Catalina and Ensenada. There were about 34 guests that joined the trip.

Carnival is known as the “Fun Ships”. My fun was more relax than Rock and Roll. I ordered room service, read two books and chilled on the balcony. The ship had a cozy little Library. Sprinkle in meals with friends. Perfect. The first book was poetry. She Walks in Beauty by Caroline Kennedy.  A longtime favorite poem of mine.

 

She Walks In Beauty, by Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place,

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent! 

 

The Longevity Book by Cameron Diaz was very interesting. Kept me up late one night. Well, honestly, I am usually up late at night. But this time it was with a good book as my companion. Made me think that I should make reading at night a new habit!

The photos are self-explanatory. Sunsets and destinations. Looking down in the atrium. The neon green line is where our cabins were. At the front of the ship. Our home port was Long Beach, The Queen Mary our neighbor.

 

Wedding Cruise, May 2016. sheiladelgado.com

 

 

 

UPPERCASE and Artistic Whispers

 

 

Sunflowers Postcard. Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

Sunflowers Postcard. Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

 

Here I go again!

Sonya Versluys invited me to take part in her annual Artistic Whispers postcard exchange. We have exchanged cards in the L.Y.A. swap for a few years now. Sonya is a wonderfully talented Photographer and writer.

Sonya mentioned that the exchange has mostly photographers. This made me want to do something extra special. So I tried a new for me technique. And I really enjoyed the process. Working wet on wet. Really wet. I soaked the paper front and back. Then patted the front surface to remove excess water.

The really cool part is that as this was a small piece, 4 x 6, the water acted like glue. The paper stuck to the small OLFA cutting mat I sometimes use to paint on.  Worked as well as taping! Which I rarely do by the way. The paper stayed wet throughout.

I was happy with this painting. But as it was the “first”, I thought I would try again. The colors faded a bit, and I did not think to go back in with more layers before the paper had dried.

Sunflowers 2. Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

Sunflowers 2. Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

Well, I succeeded on getting stronger colors. But turns out, I like the first one better. Feels less contrived. I do like parts of this second piece, so as a learning experience it gets an A.

Signed and sealed. Artistic Whispers, Sheila Delgado, sheiladelgado.com

Signed and sealed.

This time I was smart. I printed my greeting on the cards instead of hand writing it.

My cards are printed and trimmed, and the envelope is ready to go. Two weeks before the deadline, don’t know how I managed that!

 

UPPERCASE Newsletter

sheiladelgado.com

All About YOU: the Super Bowl of Surface Pattern.

Thrilled to announce that I am included in this weekend’s UPPERCASE newsletter All About YOU on Pattern Designers and Surtex. The Surtex convention starts tomorrow in New York City. My design, A midsummer’s night, is on the left. You can take a look at all the terrific designers in the newsletter.

Thank you Janine!

 

Congratulations and best wishes to all the artists attending Surtex!

Happy weekend everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soul Art 2016

 

Soul Art 2016, watercolor, oil pastel on Yupo.

Soul Art 2016, watercolor, oil pastel on Yupo.

This year, my soul art came in pieces. My day was sliced in half. I did the guided journey work in the morning, and returned to paint in the evening. I had a slightly stressful afternoon, and sitting down to paint was such a treat.

I turned on Laura‘s closing hang out, and listened as I worked. These are 6 x 6 inches squares, and the small one is an ATC, 2.5 x 3.5 inches.

The first two are pieces I had abandoned months ago. While reaching for a clean sheet of paper, I saw their colorful corners sticking out. Were they calling to me?

I pulled them out of my paper stash, and looked at them for a long time. The top one only had the base colors on it, and some yellow crayon marks. The second, had just the blue.

Soul art, five topic images.

Soul art, five topic images.

My five topics, the things that came to mind first:
Color, ocean, faces, flowers, pattern.
I did not have magazines handy, so I pulled images from Pinterest. The images that called to me are here.

The five descriptions are cheerful, thoughtful, bold, flowing, sensual.

I did not consciously think of these while painting, but you can see that some of them are present in the work.

The two bottom pieces were really all about play. The ATC started as an abstract.

None of these are finished works. I think I may take a cue  from Dotty Seiter, and they may show up as part of a collage!

 

You can read more about my Soul Art experience in Laura Hollick’s Soul Art Gallery. I am still catching up on the Facebook posts and reading about the other artists in the gallery. Several of you mentioned signing up. If you were able to take part, please comment with a link so I can visit!