Category Archives: Flowers

Blossoms in Blue Complete

4 x 6 postcard, watercolor, Nupastel, oil pastel, crayon.

I placed this on a shelf to look at it from a distance. I decided to up the volume, adding more white, a brighter yellow, and a brighter pink. I added a bit of dark blue pastel which is reading almost turquoise on the scan. I also added a few more blue splatters to replace what was under the pastel work. I still think the front stem needs work, but I am calling this done.

Deadline is looming, I need to finish one or two more, and make a decision.

Enjoy your evening~

Blossoms in Blue

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Postcard #1 is complete. I think. I will look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow. I did some subtractive painting, adding spots of yellow, and a light wash of white acrylic. Next I scraped away some of the white wash to show the yellow, and create some grassy texture.

Added some yellow, and a light wash of white. Scraped and scratched the wash.

The stems were already there. They were part of the first blue layers. I added the flower center, some petal detail on the smaller blooms, and scribbled in some grass. Two blue splatters look like distant flowers, and one of them even has a stem. Pure luck that.

Adding details.

OK, I know this is a bit blurry. I couldn’t get a decent shot, and I was anxious to see how it would scan. I need to seal it, so I experimented and used Saran wrap to cover the scanner bed. (You can see the wrinkles.)

mixed media, sheilascorner.com

I used oil pastel to add more yellow, and bits of pink and purple. I added nupastel to add more white, and some sky blue, I softened some with a Q-tip, and left some marks rough. I tried to bring back some of the white crayon marks that were in the under painting.

Maybe I will add more yellow. Or more white. White splatters?

I am not thrilled with where the two stems are meeting. I tried to bring one stem forward by making it brighter. Didn’t quite work. I need to darken the background a bit I think.

What do you think? I would value any opinions on how I can improve this. It may not be the one I send in to the Gallery, but I do really like it. On to create another…

A Pastel Floral

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Flowers for Mama. Pastel, 5 x 5. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

I am so happy with how this turned out.

I found these pastels in the clearance aisle. The set is missing six, all warm, and mostly yellows. Explains why I am leaning towards the cool end of the spectrum. I only spent $4 on a set of 36, so I don’t have that feeling that I am wasting expensive art supplies. Freeing, when it comes to learning a new medium. I can play and just have fun.

I started out thinking I would paint Bougainvillea. Maybe close up abstract shapes. Not what this is at all.

I started with some loose pink shapes in watercolor. I worked the entire piece, but left the flowers until the end. I absolutely love the light green in this, light sap green. Using that with light blue, and indigo and seeing how they play off of each other. The darks in this are all indigo, sometimes mixed with green.

My composition could use tweaking. I have an even amount of buds, and they line up a bit more than they should. I could have divided the layout better, had more of the sky, and more of the shadows. Blah-blah-blah. But I did manage to seal this one without destroying it!

Still for all the blatant mistakes. I like it! Maybe I am hallucinating, I think it really looks good on a pillow. And that is what I intended.

What do you think?