Category Archives: Daily Painting

Day 26 Of The 30-Day Creative Gathering

Day 26, FEB C.G., 8 x 8, watercolor on Arches 140lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

For the flowers I used gouache. I haven’t worked with gouache much. I need to play with it more. Gouache is an opaque watercolor paint. Transparent watercolor allows you to see the “white” of the paper through the paint. Gouache paint can be applied in solid colors. This allows artists to paint in layers from dark to light.

The flowers of the Prickly Pear look waxy and are translucent. So gouache was not the right medium for them. Lesson learned. I was hoping to capture the vivid colors. I will try again. Won’t that be fun! Here is a terrific video showing different cacti flowers. If you watch to the end, it gives the names of each.

Day 25 Of The 30-Day Creative Gathering

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Day 25, FEB C.G., 4 x 4, Acrylic on Arches cold-pressed 140 lb. paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

Setting goals is the first step
in turning the invisible into the visible.
Tony Robbins

It always seems impossible until it’s done.
Nelson Mandela

Success consists of going
from failure to failure
without loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill

Day 24 Of 30

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Day 24, FEB C.G., 8 x 8, watercolor on Arches 140lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

This strange plant looks like it was brought here from the forbidden plant. It is a type of agave. Some are called century plants because it takes them nearly 40 years to bloom. Once they do, the plant begins to die. The leaves at the base often form a perfectly round “ball” shape. As the flower stalk grows, the leaves start to wither and fade, laying down like stacked papers. The stalk uses nutrition from the leaves.

The plants often develope little “pups”, offshoots around the base as well. The bloom stalk can grow as tall as 30 feet. Some agave have clumps of yellow flowers. A tasty treat for hummingbirds and bees. I can’t help finding them fascinating.