Category Archives: Pen

Little Pip

Yellow Bird. 8 x 8 watercolor and pen on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

I wanted to call this done, but I think it still needs some work. All the branches seem to be on the same plane. The original photo is very dark, and I “saw” multiple trees, and maybe some vines hanging down. My father has since sent a new photo, and it is in fact one tree. The photo below is what I started from.

Yellow bird in tree. sheiladelgado.com

Ducks stopped by for a few minutes early this morning, but have been absent since. Two of the Bushtits visited during breakfast. They have been here less often as well. I had a little fun with Photoshop filters on these.

Little Pip, Bushtit

Same photo with a Sumi-e filter

Blur filter

January Painting Challenge In Review

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Jan 2016 30 In 30 Challenge, sheiladelgado.com. Sheila Delgado

The challenge is officially over. I am ready for a break, but I am committed to continuing the daily habit. Be it sketch, or paint, or digital design. Wish me luck!

Out of my 30 pieces for this month, there are only five that I am not thrilled with. Not bad odds. There are a few others I did not like at first, but they have grown on me. Some of that has to do with insights of others. My followers, friends and family. Thank you to my fellow artists for your support and encouragement. I am grateful to you!

I made a collage of my favorites for the month. Which paintings did you like best?

My January favorites.

I will choose from the nine paintings above to create postcards for the upcoming Liberate Your Art exchange. I can never decide on just one design, so there will be at least five.

I love the daily conversations with my artist friends. Miss that the most when the challenge ends. Seeing your art each day is so inspiring and uplifting! Thank you all! For sharing your process, your successes, and your lessons learned when things did not go as hoped. I wish you the very best in the year ahead!

Cheers to Leslie Saeta for another successful 30 In 30!
Thank you for bringing us all together!
Cheers to the 1403 participating artists worldwide!

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My Pinterest board is over 2029 fabulous works of art!
Visit Leslie’s 30 in 30 blog, for a look at
the art collages created today!

Day 21 Of 30 In 30

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Day 21. 4 x 6 in. watercolor and acrylic on 140 lb. Arches cold pressed paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

I have worked in a square format for most of this month. I need to have some postcards ready for LYA by March, so this one is postcard sized. I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but you can take part even if you don’t paint. If your art is making jewelry, quilling, or felting, knitting… sculpting. All you need is a photo of one of your creations.

I started this with the petals in acrylic. The rest is in watercolor.

Good Morning starshine!

Day 18

Day 18 rework close-up.

Today was a day for reworking several pieces. I had put off fixing my piece for day 18. I was afraid of ruining it. And I did. But then I fixed it.

I went back into the background, and the plan was to darken it on the left so the flowers would stand out more. I added more color. When it dried I tried to get an interesting bloom (added water to the area). I wanted to keep the bloom originally on the top. Well, it just ended up looking messy. Yuck.

I let that sit for a day, before I had the nerve to try again. I knew what I had to do. Re-wet the entire background. I started on the bottom right and worked my way around to the bottom on the left. I let it dry, and then added clean water, to get a couple of blooms.

Day 18 Final redo. 8 x 8 in. watercolor on gesso board. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

Because I did not add more color, the blooms are softer edged. I like both the original blooms, and the last. These blooms are not very noticeable from a distance. I am happy with the result.

Bookmarks

WIP, centers are gone.

I was in a hurry to get yesterdays post written, and I forgot to mention why I am working on the bookmarks. UPPERCASE is asking for submissions for Issue 29. Wouldn’t it be cool to be chosen? Needless to say, only the best will do.

That is why I was being so hard on myself. I reworked both of the bookmarks. I scrubbed out the centers. Later, I also added some color to the one I thought was too light. And to the darker one, I re-wet the entire area to soften, and blend. I softened the petals just a little as well.

Bookmark #1 redo. Watercolor and pen on paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

Bookmark #2 redo. Watercolor and pen on paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

I am much happier with both of them now. Even so, I am going to do a few more before I decide. Only one submission is allowed per person.

If you look back at the previous post, you will see that the centers for each flower were quite different. Now both flowers on each bookmark relate better.

I just had more fun with these, which I think makes a huge difference. I was stifled by my desire for them to be really good, and to me, it showed.