Mingus #99. 11.5 x 5.5 in. watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2018 Sheila Delgado.
Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer. That has been in my head all week. I don’t even like beer. Today is the day. Day #100. This afternoon will find me working on Mingus number one hundred.
Today’s sky was a wreck. I managed to save it. There was a cloud on the right. A stripe really. I had gone in and removed paint with a clean brush. It didn’t work.
I let the paint dry. Not completely, but almost. I re-wet the ugly area, and put paint back in, and worked it back and forth until there was a more even wash there. If you look just right of center, you can see a hint of white left. Along the right edge, some of the paint stained, but luckily, it gives the effect of distant clouds forming.
I didn’t mean to leave white along the bottom edge. I wet the paper before I added paint to that hill. I don’t think that works on a landscape this size. It is more dramatic on a portrait orientation. I AM happy though, with how the paint edge uneven. I know I brushed water on in a straight line, and that would not have worked at all.
There is some nice granulation going on. Along the dark edges of the drips, and in the dark along the bottom. I did not use the granulating medium, so that was a nice surprise. It is subtle, but the texture adds interest.
#10 WWM. 5.5 x 8 in. watercolor on Strathmore 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2018 Sheila Delgado.
I watched a short video today, where the artist haphazardly added paint to his sky, leaving white areas for clouds. I often do that, but I plan the direction a little more. He made a lot of vertical stokes, and I use more horizontals. Well, on #10 I tried it his way. Not completely happy with it. I lost most of the hard edges, trying to make sense out of the negative, white, shapes.
I have also had a hard time getting the yellow to scan correctly. In the coneflowers, and in #9, it looks much lighter than it does in person. I warmed these (above) up by adding some Quin gold. Then some yellow ochre. I did not want to add orange, so I added a bit of magenta. Well, too many colors going on, they turned out a bit muddy. So lesson learned. Again. Ha ha ha ha.
Overall, happy with both. Happy with the practice. Happy with the chance to learn.
#100DaysOfMingus Gallery
A Year In The Life Of Mingus
#WorldWatercolorMonth
Loving it! I see no signs of the distress! Love the foreground those lovely shades of green melting in the ochre hills!
Can’t wait to see #100! What an accomplishment. I am sure the Mingus will continue as part of your painting venue!
Good to hear Carol. It’s a good save then. LOL 🙂 The rain this week was an influence. I am sure you are right. There will be more Mingus. 🙂 So grateful you followed along, thanks for cheering me on Carol 😉
Beautiful
Thanks Christine, happy day to you 🙂
Wow oh wow – almost done! It has been an interesting journey with you to see Mingus in so many guises. I agree that the drip effect works better on portrait format but this is interesting too. The sky method used in the WWM piece is different; vertical strikes me as strange as most clouds have flattish bottoms and I think that would be hard to achieve with this method. I think you did a decent job though. Good job all round Sheila – have a great day!
Thanks Val for echoing my views. So grateful to have you along for the journey 🙂 Enjoy your day as well 🙂
Take one down pass it around … wow, Sheila, you did it! What an amazing project and commitment. And every one of your pieces is so cheerful and uplifting. Congratulations! – Leslie Saeta’s 30-in-30 challenge is getting closer again too. I am excited to start producing in this context again and exchanging thoughts about each other’s pieces.
So glad to hear you will be taking part Claudia 🙂 The exchange of thoughts and ideas is the best part of the challenge don’t you think? Thanks so much for visiting, so great to hear from you 🙂 See you soon, are you going to do a theme for the 30?
#99, without your story, would have no idea how much went into that sky, a sky that draws me in, reflecting my morning’s inner dialogue of worry-storms and glimmers of cloud-light hope.
#10, I so appreciate your ‘happy with the practice, happy with the chance to learn’ approach : )
Grey skies are going to clear up, put on a happy face. Not sure why songs always come to mind. That one comes to me from Miss Vernetta’s Tap dance class. 4th grade.
Cloud-light hope. Love that Dotty. Sending prayers that your storms pass quickly and with minimal damage 🙂