Category Archives: Acrylic

She Talks To Angels

Angel #1. 4 x 4 acrylic, mixed media on gallery wrapped canvas. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Finished four mini’s and they were so fun to do. These are gifts for friends. Dedication celebration. LATE by many months. Remember the pours I worked on back in April? Well, I was not successful after a few tries. Bad idea to pour paint and hope that you get something that will look like an angel shape. I did get one. Half an angel, pretty nice surprise.

I had planned a trip to San Diego to deliver them, but the trip was cancelled. Worked out fine considering. So here we are half a year later. And I can call this project done. One each for two sets of proud parents. And one of each for the happy grandparents

Ugly phase.

I borrowed some of Laly Mille’s techniques from her recent True North Star class. I wrote on the canvas. Blessings, and on the edges these words – Love, laughter, abundance and blessing. Next, a layer of crinkled tissue. Building layers of color, adding more texture. Came to the ugly phase just before bed one night. Perfect pause point. The dark teal was looking Christmas green to me.

Woke up the next morning and had the answer. I needed to unify the layers. Sort of amazing how it was just there. Divine spirit no doubt.

I took one of the colors, and added a bit of metallic, and some water. I scrubbed the translucent mix on each canvas. The hue on the dark canvases that looks slightly grey is the metallic. The overall blue is muted, and not shiny, more … pearlescent. I was so pleased with the result.

The turquoise pieces are far more shiny. Which is fitting, as they are representing a girl. Both palettes chosen to compliment each child’s nursery.

Close-up.

Close-up

The scan brings out each tone, in person they are more subtle in variation.

Gown. Wings. Head, halo, stars. And there you have it.

Angel #1

The halo and wings are white with touches of metallic on top. The stars shine and glimmer. I thought I had photos of each finished piece, but here are the three remaining before the stars.

On the next two, I used a pale translucent yellow for the halo, the metallic swirls really show well here. I think I may have taken these wings too far. Baby girl angel looks like a linebacker. I goofed and made the heads too round. Charlie Brown heads. And that is what gave me the idea to add swirls. Better.

The inspiration pieces I found on the internet were more rustic in feel. I wanted rustic and childlike, and my particular skills nailed the childlike.

Happy with them all and I know they will be well received.

I am in San Diego for the next two weeks. A surprise Blessing to me. Working on posts, tonight, hoping to leave the laptop at home. My Laly canvas will be waiting for me when I get back. So bummed I was not able to finish.

There is a beachside first birthday, and 51st wedding anniversary, and lots of baby play time in my future. I am taking a few art supplies, but I am thinkin’ they might get lonely.

Little Bits

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Fresh Start. 4 x 6 Acrylics on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

I like this better now. Not stripes, now there is a flow. Having a hard time getting the colors to scan true to life. The brightest green is not nearly as neon. And the tone in the bottom right corner is more sap and less avocado.

Not sure where I will take this next, but I do feel it needs a bit more work. Contemplating. Here is a reminder of where it started.

I have painted, a little each day, haven’t taken the time to edit and post. I conquered a major project. Well, half of it at least. I scanned all my family photos. Been meaning to do this for, well a decade at least.

The wildfires of 2007 made it more important. I have good friends who lost three homes in one family. Parents and two sisters. One family on the La Jolla reservation lost 20 homes. Sisters, cousins, parents. It was devastating.

I worked at the Rincon Harrah’s Casino, and could not get to work the day the fire started. A good friend was already working, and she was trapped, with many others, for three days at the resort. No safe way out.

I spent a week in my apartment. Ash was falling, the sky was tell-tale red. Dozens of huge Eucalyptus trees in the complex were destroyed by the high winds. The tree in front of my balcony was torn in half. My back was to it, and it scared the you-know-what out of me. Walkways were blocked, parking was blocked. If anyone needed to drive out of there, they were out of luck.

My place was miles away from the main fires. If you are interested, here are some links to more details. After seeing my friend and her family lose precious family photos and heirlooms, I made it a goal to copy all of my photos, and digitize them for safekeeping.

I figured five days, it took seven. The second half of the task is to crop, name and file each one. Then back them up so I have the files in two locations at least. Later I will restore any that need it, but honestly, that could take years.

Big load off my shoulders though. Having the scanning done.

Back to art.

Mini Mountains. 2 3/8 x 3 3/4. watercolor on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

This tiny piece was just a few minutes of play before lights out. Meant to be a sunset, but it sort of reminds me of fire too. More late night play below. Both Caran d’Ache Neocolor II on gessoed Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper.

Wings. 4 x 4 watercolor on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

After working on Fresh Start, I had paint left on the palette. More work on one of the first abstracts from the beginning of the month.

Simple Start. 4 x 4 Acrylic on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper © 2017 Sheila Delgado

I started Laly’s class, and her building of layers was in my mind. So there is more to come with this I think. Here is the before.

Simple Start #2. 4 x 4 Acrylic on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Still paint on the palette, I grabbed an ATM card, and a scrap of paper and started again.

First layers. 3.5 x 7.

Fresh Start

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New sheet of paper, and paint in my palette. Couldn’t decide between brush or knife. So I went with my fingers. I knew I would get a completely different look.

Work in progress, acrylic on 12 x 12 gallery wrapped canvas.

I didn’t mean to be so stripey. So I will be doing this again. Another fresh start! You may not remember, But I created a background like this for a Scripture gift for friends. More what I had in mind. I used my fingers for that as well.

And it took two attempts to get it right.

Looking forward to more painting fun! Hope you are enjoying creative time, or maybe just relaxing time!