Category Archives: Photos

Oh Joy, New Toys!

Hills 12-12-16. 6 x 6 in. watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

The inspiration photo for this made me realize something. After I had finished the painting. Look closely, and you will see there is a small ridge in front of the dark hills. How could I have missed that?

Looking from my studio window each day, I see fields leading to a row of trees in front of the hills. The shot below is from a slightly different angle, maybe that is why the ridge is more visible.

I thought about including the details in the distant mountains. But as you can see, my details are pure fiction. I was so entranced while painting the blue hills, I forgot to leave space for the tree line. It was in my sketch, but the indigo took over. I later added them by using acrylic.

Mingus Mountain

Toys

While in Phoenix I made a trip to Blick and Jerry’s Artarama. Talk about artist nirvana! I looked at EVERYTHING. They are only ten minutes apart. Divine!

I fell in love with two colors from my Artist’s Loft™ Fundamentals™ Watercolor Pan Set. The colors are listed as Buff, and Red Purple. I want to replace them with higher quality paint. You can see both colors in the image below. (highlight on vase, table)

Looking online, I found the colors listed below are close to the Red Purple. Caput Mortum seems the closest.

Winsor & Newton – Quin. Magenta
Sennelier – Caput Mortum
Da Vinci – Perylene Maroon
M. Graham – Permanent Alizarin Crimson

Online, I looked through pans, tubes, pencils. And I discovered Neocolor II Aquarelle Artists’ Crayons. Jerry’s had them in stock, so I purchased a few. OK, six. But hey, I wanted most of them, so I did pretty well in the restraint department!

Watercolor pencils and crayons.

I bought three Faber-Castell and three Derwent Inktense pencils as well. All of the colors are lovely. You can see on the samples below that Faber-Castell has the least pigmented colors. I thought Inktenze were concentrated, but WOW! The crayons are very highly pigmented! They go on and on and on! I love them. (The color in the middle is the Red Purple I am trying to match.)

Salmon seems to be close to the Buff color, a little deeper perhaps. Flesh would be better. I also purchased an extra Inktense indigo pencil. Looking at my painting today, the Neocolor Indigo Blue seems slightly on the purple side to me. What do you think?

New colors

Happy Creating to you!

My Blue Mountain Ridge

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Big Blue. 6 x 6 in. watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper. © 2016 Sheila Delgado

A day in the life of a mountain. From misty morn to saffron sunset. Most often, the mountains look like two ridges. You can see below, there are many more layers. This is the first I am seeing so many distinctions. Fun day!

Mingus Morning 1.

Mingus Morning 2.

When I began to paint, I thought about showing the mist over the ridge. But the indigo won out, and I painted clear blue sky with a few puffy clouds. Next time.

Mingus Afternoon.

Amazing what lucent light can do.
The mountains stand tall and strong and true.
A passing cloud, or misty shroud.
Then clear and bright.
To day’s fading light.

Sun Setting.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Mountains Blue

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Started this by splashing white gouache on the paper. Next I sketched with indigo Inktense pencil, and added more gouache to soften the lines. I worked quickly. Just felt the need to put brush to paper before turning out the lights.

I am excited about my new phone. The camera is better than the old one. I did not want a new phone, but I had no service here at the house and had to switch carriers. A new camera makes up for having to learn the ins and outs again. Still can’t figure out how to set up my voicemail.

So my terrible, fuzzy photos will be a bit sharper. Wooo Whoo! Here is one of the mountain range as it heads south.

View from Prescott Valley, AZ.

And here is a close up of Mingus.

Mingus.

Still working with the inks, following along with Sandy Sandy‘s FUNdamentals of Alcohol Ink E-course. I haven’t had time to work on finishing a piece. But I am experimenting, learning which colors work well together.

I tried to make my own felt pad, I saw an example online using a binder clip, felt and tape. But I wasn’t really happy with it and I bought the dabber Sandy recommends for the class. I made one just by rolling some felt and using the clip to hold the felt. On another, I taped the felt to the widest part of the clip. They both worked, but had the tendency to create areas of heavy application. In the center is the purchased dabber.

Alcohol ink applicators and new backgrounds.

Here is one I really like. After I dabbed on the ink, I sprayed it with blending solution. that created some soft areas where the color moved and the hard edges were lost. later I accidentally sprayed (over spray) alcohol on it, and teeny spots formed. Terrific mix of texture!