Fresh Start. 4 x 6 Acrylics on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado
I like this better now. Not stripes, now there is a flow. Having a hard time getting the colors to scan true to life. The brightest green is not nearly as neon. And the tone in the bottom right corner is more sap and less avocado.
Fresh Start. 4 x 6 Acrylics on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado
Not sure where I will take this next, but I do feel it needs a bit more work. Contemplating. Here is a reminder of where it started.
I have painted, a little each day, haven’t taken the time to edit and post. I conquered a major project. Well, half of it at least. I scanned all my family photos. Been meaning to do this for, well a decade at least.
The wildfires of 2007 made it more important. I have good friends who lost three homes in one family. Parents and two sisters. One family on the La Jolla reservation lost 20 homes. Sisters, cousins, parents. It was devastating.
I worked at the Rincon Harrah’s Casino, and could not get to work the day the fire started. A good friend was already working, and she was trapped, with many others, for three days at the resort. No safe way out.
I spent a week in my apartment. Ash was falling, the sky was tell-tale red. Dozens of huge Eucalyptus trees in the complex were destroyed by the high winds. The tree in front of my balcony was torn in half. My back was to it, and it scared the you-know-what out of me. Walkways were blocked, parking was blocked. If anyone needed to drive out of there, they were out of luck.
My place was miles away from the main fires. If you are interested, here are some links to more details. After seeing my friend and her family lose precious family photos and heirlooms, I made it a goal to copy all of my photos, and digitize them for safekeeping.
I figured five days, it took seven. The second half of the task is to crop, name and file each one. Then back them up so I have the files in two locations at least. Later I will restore any that need it, but honestly, that could take years.
Big load off my shoulders though. Having the scanning done.
Back to art.
Mini Mountains. 2 3/8 x 3 3/4. watercolor on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado
This tiny piece was just a few minutes of play before lights out. Meant to be a sunset, but it sort of reminds me of fire too. More late night play below. Both Caran d’Ache Neocolor II on gessoed Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper.
Wings. 4 x 4 watercolor on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado
After working on Fresh Start, I had paint left on the palette. More work on one of the first abstracts from the beginning of the month.
Simple Start. 4 x 4 Acrylic on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper © 2017 Sheila Delgado
I started Laly’s class, and her building of layers was in my mind. So there is more to come with this I think. Here is the before.
Simple Start #2. 4 x 4 Acrylic on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper © 2017 Sheila Delgado
Still paint on the palette, I grabbed an ATM card, and a scrap of paper and started again.
First layers. 3.5 x 7.
That fire stuff is so scary. Middle aged man says you should start a dropbox account and get all those photos in the cloud until you have some other backup. I’d hate to see you lose the photos by bad luck or a bad turn of the fires!
Thank you middle aged man. 😉 I do have an account. Have them on two sticks, and the computer. You are right, I need to get them on the cloud 🙂
Enjoy your week Dave 🙂 Keep your eyes open, dumpster man ;))
I love to see what you are up to. So creative. I love that you enjoy it so much too!
Thank you Lana 🙂 So nice to hear you liked the post 🙂 Happy designing and quilting to you 🙂 Your patterns look great on the new bedding!!
It’s good to see your art after a bit of a stretch away and thank you for the stories that you share. I love “Mini Mountains” and for me it does make one feel the afterglow of the fires that have been happening tragically from Spain to California. It’s a lovely painting. I think it would be fabulous huge!
What a horrendous experience for you to go through those fires. I remember when that happened. I was living in San Diego at the time but in University City area. There was ash everywhere. It was very frightening and you were so very close.
As I mentioned in the message from my train ride, we were looking for a place to live and fortunately found one. We are moving to Villanova i la Geltru which is about 40 minutes south of Barcelona. So again for the millionth time in my life I am packing. Each time what is important becomes more evident as I leave so much behind. But the photos remain. I so admire you for scanning your photos. The idea of that overwhelms me, but that is why I have lugged around from continent to continent my photo albums with everyone looking at me as if I have lost my mind. I must do it one day;)
Laurelle!!!
So glad for you, congratulations! How exciting 🙂
Boy do I know about moving. One year I moved 8 times! I keep my stuff in those 18 gallon storage bins. at one point I had 34!! Six years ago, I shredded a bunch before a move, donated to Goodwill. and before the move here last year, got rid of more. and these past few months, I have been organizing and thinning things out even more. I watched a movie by these two, and it is a movement I have been interested in for a while. Not to an extreme. But I am not one of those women who longs for a bedroom sized clothes closet. https://www.theminimalists.com/
I have always lived in small places, and I have come to realize that I prefer it actually. Especially now with Lupus, the thought of having so much to “lug around” is daunting. I have five tubs half that size, and to move, might need four more. But they are small, and easy for me to carry. 😉 Anyway, off on a tangent here. LOL
I lived in Escondido a the time, 15 miles from where I worked, a scenic drive through the mountains. all the fires were fairly distant, but as you know… the smoke was everywhere. And falling ash is so dangerous and scary. My good friend came over and swept the walls of my balcony, cleaned my furniture out there. I couldn’t do it, and she knew that would get into the apartment and make me more sick. She has been my savior many times since Lupus started!!
So funny to think our paths may have crossed! Would have been a joy to have the chance to meet you 😉
Thanks for the compliment on Mtns… I may do one a bit larger soon 😉 I had not heard of the fires in your neck of the woods. Sending prayers! So much has been burning, everywhere.
When I finally opened the box of photos to start, I was dreading it. It took two sessions to sort, a few hours maybe. They are all loose, so I placed them in ziplock bags. I scanned a few bags each day. Some of the photos got tossed once scanned. Just weren’t THAT important to me. And now they all fit in a small metal box that is about 9 in. w x 13 in. long x 6.5 in tall. I have a few larger family photos in a bin, but those have been scanned as well. I have digital copies of all the photos my Grandmother had when she passed away. And tons from my Father’s side of the family. But all easily stored on the hard drive and a tiny memory stick! LOL
Happy moving to you Laurelle! I actually love packing and unpacking. just not all the lifting. LOL
It sounds like you have been a busy girl! I really like what you have done to Fresh Start and it will be interesting to see what you do with it. Your idea to copy your photos is a good one and something I should probably do too. Bob made a back up drive of all our computer stuff this summer and kept it in the car, just in case, but my photos aren’t duplicated. I like the MIni Mountain piece too. Take care Sheila and have a great weekend.
Thank you Val, I am so much happier with it now. Just had to keep at it, LOL. Work past the ugly stage. 😉
I scanned in my diploma, awards and ribbons, some letters from my Dad. Some of his high school articles (Track team), postcards from family trips. movie ticket stubs, funny what I found in that box. I am planning on adding cards from my grandmothers and other cards and letters. Maybe I will do that next month. The good thing about that is that some of the inks have faded, and I can darken them on the computer 🙂
I probably will never have need of the backups, but I really do feel so much better, knowing that they are ther 😉
Enjoy the slow down Val 😉
Omgosh, Sheila! The fire you experienced sounds terrifying. I can’t imagine. So glad you made it out safely. My heart breaks for all those involved in the newest one.
Your abstract painting reminds me of the game hopscotch because my eye goes bouncing from one side of the painting to the other..in a hopscotch manner. 🙂
That is so awesome to hear Katie! Thank you 😉 I was trying to create a “path”. Nice to know it does give the eye a place to travel.
So many memories came back to me while writing this. For safety reasons, people were not allowed back to their homes for weeks. But my Harrah’s badge got me through. I took my friend’s brother up the mountain, so he could see if the houses were still there. He took pictures so everyone else could see. We walked through the rubble, and managed to collect a few little chotchkies for his mother. And in my friends home, I found a Sea Biscuit that looked unharmed. I went to pick it up, and it just disintegrated on my fingers.
Have fun with your dailies Katie!
I love when you do these loose starts! The colors are great and happy! Waiting to see what you do with this!
Thank you Carol 🙂 Happy is awesome to hear 😉
Sheila, fun post, with all sorts of art and info! The scumbling and darker colors in Fresh Start add texture and depth. I look forward to seeing it again whenever it might pop up.
The lights and darks, and fine lines and speckles in Mini Mountains make those mini mountains pop. The piece has a fresh spontaneous feel.
I have a new appreciation for underlayers and what they can become, so I’m eager to see where you take Simple Start.
And I love the organic, uncomplicated impression created by First Layers.
My hat is off to you regarding your photo project, Sheila. Kudos!
So glad you enjoyed it Dotty. Might have rambled a bit, remembering. Mini mountains was indeed spontaneous. I did it in under five minutes I think. So small. I love the feel of those crayons in my hand. 😉 So glad you feel the darker colors in Fresh add depth. I thought it looked to flat, wasn’t sure if I added dimension though. Thanks 😉 Your layering is such an inspiration! I don’t know why I always neglect that but Laly is influencing as well. 🙂 those dark scribbles are care of Fearless Dotty 😉
Happy painting my friend 😉