Category Archives: Watercolor

Seaing is Believing

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.

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

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

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

LYA Side Swap

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!

Just Daffy About A New Fabric Design

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Fancy Free. 4 x 6 watercolor on paper postcard. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Daffodowndilly

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
“Winter is dead.”

A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

A set of quick postcards. Needed to paint. And use up some of that yellow still in the bowl. Thought it would be done for, but there is still enough for another painting or two. (Thanks Christine for the postcard paper!)

Breezy. 4 x 6 watercolor on paper postcard. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Over A Barrel, digital surface design. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Thanks to everyone who voted for my design! I ended up in the top third! #102 of 354, with 79 votes. To get into the top ten I would have needed 165 votes. That figure is different for each challenge. You can see the winners here. It received many “favorites” from other designers, I was glad for that.

This weeks design challenge theme is “Birds and Blooms”. There are even MORE entries than last week. Spoonflower holds these challenges as part of their “overarching goal: to inspire you, our design community and continue to challenge you to keep creating and growing.”

I neglected to include the prize scale, and a few of you were curious. This is how it works:

One popularly voted grand-prize winner will receive $200 in Spoonflower credit. The 2nd place winner will receive $100 in Spoondollars. The 3rd place winner will receive $50 in Spoondollars. The rest of the top 10 winners will receive $20 in Spoonflower credit. The top 25 popularly voted designs (provided the designers are already verified sellers) will be automatically made available for sale in the Marketplace where they will receive 10% commission on every sale — no $5.00 swatch required! In addition to cash prizes, the top 10 will receive additional exposure in our email newsletters, professional photography of their printed designs, and social media mentions.

Spoonflower has recently changed this. Before, only the number one design received a cash prize.

Birds and Flowers. Mixed media digital surface design. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

In reading the challenge instructions, I found out I goofed. I thought I had read this was a watercolor design. OOPS! Oh well. All of the May themes are to be watercolor, I just got a head start. (Some of the designers made the same mistake.) But no worries. Watercolor is not against the rules. All is well.

Indigo swatches

I started my design by painting indigo swatches. You can see a few of them here. I added drops of water to the drying paint to create blooms for texture. In some of the swatches I used a clean, damp brush to lift some of the pigment in a swirl pattern.

In watercolor, a “bloom” happens when wetter paint is placed in dryer paint. The liquid forces the original pigment out, creating irregular shaped splotches.

In Photoshop, I “pasted” these swatches to the flower shapes by creating a clipping mask. My first round, I had just indigo and white flowers. I added a soft blue, a color sample taken from the watercolor. I decided I needed a pop of color, and added orange centers to some of the blooms. Finally I added a lighter shade of that orange to a few of the larger flowers. While I liked the design with all blues and white, the minute I added the warmth it felt finished.

Wanna help me win? I have already received some favorites. Always a nice feeling when fellow designers give you a thumbs up. You have five days to vote. As always, you can only vote once, but you can share the link with friends.

Have a super weekend!

Mingus Mail Art Museum

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PJ Lawrence, acrylic and oil pastel. LYA side swap 2017.

Seven postcards arrived today. Nine pieces of art in total.WOW, lucky day ‘ey? This first card is from PJ Lawrence in Tennessee. She tells me it is in an altered photography book. Oh my, that sounds like fun! The back of her card has some really cool graphics and a wish,

“Enjoy!”

Just love your card PJ! Gorgeous colors, shapes and textures! Thanks so much!! A reminder for me to mix my media and experiment more in my own abstracts!

Sherry Harmes, LYA side swap 2017

Sherry and I began talking about LYA months before it started. She didn’t say, but this piece almost looks like it is painted on wood. So much wonderful texture! I always look forward to Sherry’s cards, She often takes the most basic elements, and turns them into wonderful works of art. Never fails to surprise!

Conceive, Believe, Achieve!

Sherry’s message, she includes the date sent, current Larsen Bay Alaska temperature, Winds calm, and Seas at 4 feet. There is a sparkly family of Polar bear stickers. I can’t help but smile, thinking of them animated and perhaps enjoying an icy cold Coke! She also sends her trademark “Hugs!”

Love your card Sherry! The rustic, nautical, majestic feel. Thanks so much for always swapping with me!

Christine Brooks, San Francisco Mountains, Flagstaff. Watercolor. LYA side swap 2017

Christine Brooks shared her wonderful watercolor this year. Aren’t these mountains gorgeous?! On the back was a personal message, and a simple wish:

“Peace”

So love the simplified, loose look of this piece. Inspiring Christine! You are right – this is a fun swap! I am so glad to have met you, and I am sure we will meet in person one day soon!

Funny connection side note, my mothers maiden name is Francisco, and her name is Kristina.

Thanks Christine for sharing your lovely, wonderful art with me!

In the Thicket of Things, Suzette Rothlisberger. Side swap 2017

This soft photo is so lovely! Makes me think of fine Victorian women in all their splendor. Delicate, precious, regal. This thought came to mind. Even as beauty fades, strength endures. On the back Suzette included this sweetness:

Surely a star danced in Heaven on the day you were born
Flavia

Suzette included a link for flicker, but sadly I can not read enough of it to share. Suzette, if you read this, please share it in a comment so we can see more of your gorgeous work! Suzette was so creative with her post card displays this year. Very entertaining!

Thank you Suzette for sharing your work with me! And thank you for making the arrivals so much fun to see!

Houston Skyline, Lisa Comperry. LYA side swap 2017

Look at those clouds! Look closer and you can see that lightning is striking. This is a low res image, Lisa’s photo is so much better. I know Lisa is a true photographer. She tells me she took this from the parking garage at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Even Lisa’s stamp is stunning!

Historic Galveston Pleasure Pier. Lisa Comperry

She mentioned that it was 80 degrees. I suppose that is on the cool side for Houston. Lisa, we will be in the mid 70’s this week! Lisa is from Riverside California, a hop, skip and a jump from where I lived. Follow the links to see more of Lisa’s terrific work. This image is for sale in her Etsy Shop. You will also find her stunning work on Flicker. Got lost there for a bit. Stunning work Lisa! Those Texas sunsets are divine! Love the duckling photos too!

Thanks so much Lisa for sharing your vision with the world, and with me! Your work is filled with JOY!

Kate Lehman, LYA side swap 2017

Kate Lehman sent this wonderful image. Just love the textured, weathered, aged look. Her Flickr stream is filled with gorgeous images. Love the monkey shots Kate! (Yes, the little human monkeys too! So Sweet!) And Oh those flowers!

Thanks Kate for the swap and encouragement! Such a treasure!

Rooftops. Montreal Canada. Louise Mamet, LYA side swap 2017

This colorful card is from Louise Mamet and came all the way from Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, France. I didn’t notice in the Facebook group, how blue the tiles are. And that green just pops. So lovely, notice the pattern on the brick wall. All rooftops should look like this!

Louise sent a very encouraging message – thank you for that my friend. You can find Louise on Facebook, and at her website.

Louise Mamet

Louise also shared this ATC sized, business card photo. So wonderful, it even inspired some terrific sketching by one of the LYA participants. Wouldn’t I love to have that little room in the tower!

Thanks so much Louise for sharing your photos with me again this year! Treasures!