Chapel Cactus. 5 x 5 watercolor and gouache on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado
Tempted to call this a work in progress. Have a try at improving it. I enjoyed the process, but I was not entirely successful. My foreground is not “fore” enough, and my shadows could use some tweaking.
This is from a photo taken at the Chapel of the Cross in Sedona. A day trip with my recent visitors. This grouping was at the bottom of the hill, beneath the Chapel. I was so in love with the purple prickly pears, I didn’t even notice the nopales heart. Did you notice?
Have you ever eaten prickly pear or nopales? My good friend Naomi makes nopales like her grandmother’s. With hamburger and red chili. Very tasty side dish. I would love to try prickly pear.
Something is not quite right. Just couldn’t figure it out. So I took a look at the desaturated image. Hmm, that might be the answer. Now, how to fix it. I will think on it a day or two. Suggestions are always welcome.
Chapel Cactus values
Take a look at day 5 on Leslie Seata’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge!
I am also adding friends and favorites to my Pinterest board for the event.
Morning Sheila, Lots of good ideas from everyone – lighten the background or darken the foreground, have some of the grasses in front come up to intersect the cactus. darken your shadows – boy, will you have fun trying them all. – good luck!
Thank you Val 🙂 Yes, those shadows looked very dark, but of course dried lighter. So nice to hear from you 🙂
I love the orange background. I’m thinking that maybe the front of the cactus in the right bottom corner should be the bluish green shadow color, instead of the yellow green. I love the prickleys and the pears!!! I think the foreground is too bright and busy and takes away from the cactus. Just my thoughts… 🙂
Thank you Karin for your observations 🙂 I added the detail on the right before I finished the paddles. I wasn’t thinking ahead, to the details I was going to add there. Adding your thoughts to my list of considerations, thanks so much 🙂
Gorgeous colors, Sheila!! I always check values in black and white when something looks off. Perfect idea, cuz you can immediately see that it’s almost all one value. Hard to tell that with those beautiful colors, but you knew something was off. “a lot, some, and a little” is what I’ve always learned about values and their distribution. So, all you have to do is, like Carol said darken the orange just directly behind the pears, and lighten (warm) the green in front just a tad. See if the different values become more apparent. Also, maybe a few blades or pieces of that green over the pears to show the green is in front. Or, if the pears are in front, maybe a shadow? Just my 2 cents. If you hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t have noticed. It’s just a beautiful painting.
Laurie thank you! The grasses on the bottom are in front, but somehow I did not get enough, “overlap”. And I was thinking of carrying some of the brown from the bottom up and around. Love your quote, I will remember that! Happy painting to you 🙂
Hey GF – I like your colors here. As you can see by the grey scale image, these are all mid value. That being said, you need to add some light and dark. If it was me, I’d lighten the cactus and add some dark around the focal point. Don’t forget to SQUINT my dear! Hugs, Sandy
I knew I could count on your expertise Sandy, thank you 🙂 I will work on it later this afternoon.
Sheila, I like the graphic feel to this painting. I’m eager to see what you might do with your “prickly” art if you go back in to continue playing with this one.
I like that as well Dotty 🙂 I will keep you posted 🙂
We also have these cacti we call them Sabras… Sabra is a nickname of Israeli born, prickly on the outside sweet inside. Maybe making the orange less saturated a bit more gray will push back. Try in PS if you can..The sabras are the most forward.
Good idea Carol, thank you. That is funny, prickly/sweet. Happy sketching to you 🙂