Category Archives: Daily Painting

Day 24 of 30 in 30

Sea and Sand. 6 x 6 watercolor on 140 cold press paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

I finished painting early today. Had visions of going to bed early too, but it didn’t happen. Here are three pieces I worked on. Works in progress. Beginnings.

Just playing with paint, trying to create textures like the background in Day 23. Yellow ochre and indigo were calling me. I am counting this as my painting for today, but I don’t think it is in any way finished. Maybe I can add a bird, birds on the shore, or some sunlight reflecting. Hmmm…

Each of these came out looking like a landscape, but I wasn’t thinking of any in particular. The first column is how I painted them.

Works in progress. watercolor on 140 lb. cold press paper.

When I scanned them in, I rotated each of them, to see if an idea would jump out at me. Does anything come to mind for you?

You can see, I painted the first one with the yellow as a sky, but it did not work as well as flipping it upside down. Duh, this works better as sand than sky.

The one in the middle, I think might be a total loss. This last one crashed and burned. I liked it the best, so that was a bummer.

Looking at them lined up like this, I got the idea to do a cheater quilt in these colors for my Spoonflower shop. So that was one good thing that came from goofing around.

I may not have finished the day with a painting, but I did play with color, and texture. I did not focus on an end result. So I can call it a play day, and give myself a yellow ochre star for letting go!

Hey, is today Friday? Woo-whoo! Only two more days until Downton! Happy Friday!

Leslie Saeta’s 30 Painting in 30 Days Challenge

Palm – Day 23 of 30 in 30

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Palm. 4 x 5 watercolor on 140 lb. cold press paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

My painting for today counts as a good save. I wasn’t happy with the washed in sky and ocean. I didn’t think to take a photo, but the colors were just too soft. Wishy washy.

I decided I could not possibly make it any worse, and I laid in colors that were left on my palette. It still wasn’t quite right.

Before digital rendering.

I was careful not to wash out the palm fronds, but that left too much “white” area. So I went in digitally and tightened that up.

Much better don’t you think? I love how the background turned out. The tree is iffy. Maybe if I go back in with more color, I can make that better. Over all, I am happy with how this turned out.

Leslie reminded us that this challenge is not about creating perfection every day. It is about developing the habit of painting everyday, getting in the “zone” and learning from our experiences. It is a reminder I needed. Looking at all the amazing art that is being created, I start to feel like I need to be amazing every day too.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enjoy your day!

Day 22 of 30 in 30

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Yellow. 6 x 6 watercolor on YUPO. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

Well here it is just before midnight. I am still trying to get a decent painting to post. I will have to post this for now. It’s a hot mess. Or as my friend Pauline in the U.K. might say, it is a bloody mess.

I thought trying something I am familiar with might help with the learning curve for this new surface. Not so much huh?

For months I had the vague idea lodged in the back of my mind that I could be a better artist, if I only had YUPO to work on. You know. Like when you were in school, and you just felt sure that if you just had the right pair of jeans, everything would fall in line and the cosmos would crown you with glory.

Well, at the very least you would be popular and that cute guy in 3rd period would finally notice you were alive. OK, I didn’t really think I would all of a sudden become outstanding. But I did think maybe, it would be easier to control the paint. My whole problem in a nutshell.

I know DUH, right. The watercolor artists are laughing at me and yelling, “Stop trying to control the paint!” Yeah, I need a V-8 thump on the forehead.

The nifty-neato thing is, I can just add water and start over. Wash, rinse and repeat.

Tomorrow is another day Scarlett.