Tag Archives: #day4

Days 2, 3, and 4 of 30

Yellow Ranunculus. Day 2, 8 x 8 mixed media on paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.
Yellow Ranunculus. Day 2, 8 x 8 mixed media on paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.

Cha-cha-changes. Haha. Many in this piece. The twigs had green leaves, that disappeared against the background. I outlined them, still no good. So I painted them the same dark as the branch. Much better. The green balls have turquoise spots that show up much better in person. The fact that the image is saved for web, low-res, makes it harder to see them. The greens did not want to work. I added crayon marks to the leaves, they highlighted the stripe texture. Maybe if I add another layer of that, get those leaves darker, or brighter. Hmm.

I used orange crayon for the swirls, it wasn’t as dark as I had hoped. I used a peachy-pink paint pen, and that looks great in person as well. Here, not so much. I outlined some of the spots on the vase, then decided to darken some of the spots. While doing that, my Posca burped all over the bottom of tha vase. HUGE black yuck. LOL. I mopped it up with a paper towel, and there was so much paint, I stamped it on the vase as a repair. I desaturated the image in Photoshop, and the details pop, as you can see below.

Day 2, desaturated, 8 x 8 mixed media on paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.
Day 2, desaturated, 8 x 8 mixed media on paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.

On day three I worked too far ahead of myself. After laying down the loose lacey shapes, I planned to place some leaves, and secondary flowers. Oops! Haha. I went straight to the main attraction. There is a warm white pattern on the background. I wanted subtle, well. It’s almost invisible.

Day 3 texture close-up
Day 3 texture close-up

When I thought I was done, something just didn’t feel right. I thought the bouquet was already messy, and adding splatter would junk it up. I looked. Looked some more. Hmm.

Then I showed it to Christine Brooks. Voila! She kindly suggested that maybe I needed a table. DUH! Then she suggested it be green. I wasn’t sure about the green. After my day 2 green flubs. But I went with it. I think I like that green tablecloth best in this piece. Thanks Christine! You saved my bee-hind! 

Day 3, 8 x 8 mixed media on paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.
Day 3, 8 x 8 mixed media on paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.

I had planned to stop this series at 3. Well. Maybe one more. After cutting a wonky vase, (the top is angled too), I had petal shaped scrapes. Ah-ha! I have really been flying by the set of my pants with all of these. Just making it up as I go. I really should do some preliminaries.

The stamped flowers were done in yellow. I added a bit of green to the white blooms, an attempt at depth. Oh, and the white was applied with a bunch of Q-tips banded together. That was fun. I added splatter at the end. Yellow. Using up the paint in my palette. Well that was a yucky mistake. DUH, yellow and blue make green. Yeah.

Day 4, Leopard Spotted Lily. 8 x 8 mixed media on paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.
Day 4, Leopard Spotted Lily. 8 x 8 mixed media on paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.

Photoshop to the rescue again. I changed the yellow to a whitish-yellowish pale. Not great. But better. I selected only the background areas, so the yellow splatters remain on the vase and blooms. And yes, I went a bit too heavy. FIrst too light, and then. Bam. Too much.

I used saran wrap to get the texture on the background. So fun. I used my heat gun to quicken the drying. That may be why there is a sandy texture on the piece. Or maybe that happens , or maybe it is the paint. No matter. I think it is great. I’ll see if I can manage to do it again.

Day 4 texture close-up
Day 4 texture close-up

Wow… even Gauguin!

What still concerns me the most is:
am I on the right track, am I making progress,
am I making mistakes in art? 
Paul Gauguin

Day 4 & 5 of the 30-Day Creative Gathering

Day 4, Acrylic on 6 x 6 Paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.
Day 4, Acrylic on 6 x 6 Paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.

Late-night color studies for the large canvas on my wall. Well. the large canvas that is sitting on my floor waiting to be painted. I have already decided that I need muted tones in that area. The corner is dark though, so maybe a lighter canvas would be nice.

Day 4 Reversed, Acrylic on 6 x 6 Paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.
Day 4 Reversed, Acrylic on 6 x 6 Paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.

I used a palette knife and the inexpensive Hobby Lobby Master’s Touch watercolor paper. As I rotated the surface around, I noticed it could work either way.

When I had finished, I wasn’t sure about the linear marks I had made. Didn’t quite work. So I took some cough drop wrappers that were on my desk and used them to move the paint around. Haha.

Day 4 Before
Day 4 Before

Next, I tried the opposite, more mid-tones, and less of the light. I tried to form hills with the knife. I need practice. 🙂 I like how the paper texture shows up here and there.

Day 5, Acrylic on 6 x 6 Paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.
Day 5, Acrylic on 6 x 6 Paper. © 2021 Sheila Delgado.

Color is a power that directly influences the soul.
Wassily Kandinsky
Russian painter, and art theorist.
1866-1944

Color!
What a deep and mysterious language,
the language of dreams.
Paul Gauguin French Post-Impressionist Painter
1848-1903