Tag Archives: wip

Day 8 Of 30 – WIP

South Range, update. 4 x 8 in. watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

After posting yesterday, I realized I needed to deepen the color of the 2nd ridge near the bottom. My thought was confirmed by Val in her comment. (Thanks Val!) And reinforced again when I looked at the painting in Photoshop. I desaturated (took out the color) the image, and sure enough. The values were all pretty much the same. I needed more contrast.

Here’s the before.

South Range. 4 x 8 in. watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

I have better value contrast now. I also added deeper color to some of the ridgelines. Not sure if that addition was an improvement. But leaving it as is, calling it done.

I set up four small canvas. Ready and waiting. I procrastinated. Delayed. Cleaned the closet. Folded clothes. Researched abstract art. (More delay.) Didn’t start painting until after dark.

Funny how intimidating a tiny canvas can be. I started laying down color with a palette knife. I finished two, and still had paint on the palette so I continued. Now there are four starts, five including the green canvas from earlier in the week. Here is a look at two of them.

WIP One. 4 x 4 acrylic on canvas.

WIP Two. 4 x 4 acrylic on canvas.

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Work In Progress

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sunflowers in progress, 6 x 9 watercolor. 2015 Sheila Delgado

On a cool, rainy, GLORIOUS day. Window open. Painting.

Rain is such blessing, especially for all of those near the fires. The North fire yesterday on the Cajon pass was devastating for so many people. It is the main route from So. Cal. to Las Vegas. Prayers going out for all of those affected by it.

Can’t imagine being left on foot, in the desert, 30 miles from any sort of facilities. 20 cars were destroyed. 2 semi trucks. Feeling very blessed, and very thankful for the rain.

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.)

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…