Category Archives: Postcards

Short And Simple

Three Little Blooms, 4 x 6 watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

Flower Field, 4 x 6 watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

Prickly Pear, 4 x 6 watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado. — Flower Field, 4 x 6 watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

Love Notes postcard exchange helped to pass the time. Haha. Is it the end of the month already?! This round we had the option of going digital. I chose that but found a stash of stamps, so I mailed the cards as usual. I was offered a side swap from Kelly, and eagerly agreed. For the side, I painted the Prickly Pear.
Thank you, Priscilla Martin and Kelly Collin-Coulter for brightening up my mailbox and month!

Playful Bouquet, 4 x 6 watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

Friendship is born at that moment when one person
says to another,
‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.
– C.S. Lewis

My good friend has asked me to post his call for help. He is working on two awesome applications. If you know anyone with the skills he has listed (below in bold), please share this info with them. Thank you for taking a look 🙂

A Call to Arms for Designers!
With the threat of Covid-19 affecting us all, many of us are trying to find ways to help stop the spread of this pandemic through various methods. At Pandemic-Watch we are in the process of developing a mobile app that allows users to opt-in to providing anonymous location data. That data can then be compared to reporting known and suspected symptomatic users and notices sent to those who have crossed paths (with-in the possible transmission time) with a known or suspected person.
In addition, we also have a project (Medic-Watch) to aid our Medical Heros! Most medical facilities require exposed staff to phone in and answer a health questionnaire each day. Many of the exposed staff are overworked, short on time, and exhausted! So many fail to report daily. This leaves the administrative staff to initiate calls or physically track them down to gather important health data.
Our Medic-Watch project provides a mobile app to collect this data on a given schedule, thus making it easier and less time consuming for the staff to comply. The user can provide a schedule of days and times for the app to open and request their health status. The data is then provided to the medical facility(s) they choose on first use or add later.
Our two projects are in great need of volunteers. One of our most significant needs is for designers and UI/UX designers to help in the design of our products. If you can design a mockup of a mobile screen given some criteria (such as input fields, and text to display) and make it look modern and professional, we need you!
Both projects are open source and seek to help stop the spread of the pandemic. The anonymous information they collect will also be provided to medical researchers to help in understanding the spread of future epidemics. So far, our team consists of software developers and epidemiologists. We need web developers, designers, and marketing people, pandemic experts, etc. The projects are both open source and free to anyone to use, modify and further develop for their own use. As long as it is not for profit.
If you would like to take part and have any talent that could be of use, please contact me at pandemic.watch2020@gmail.com

Randall Morgan, Project Lead

Conjunction Junction – A Digital Daytrip

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Grab a cuppa and a muffin, this is a long one. 🙂

It’s time for Jennifer Belthoff’s Love Notes postcard exchange. Woo Whoo! This takes place four times a year. For this round, the option was given to use snail mail or email. For three weeks my postcard partner and I will exchange emails based on a writing prompt. But you know me, I want to send painted postcards. I plan to send the originals when it is safe to be out and about.

I sent an ecard greeting to my partner earlier this week, the prompt was, “Together”. This is what came to mind.

Good Morning!
Together we can welcome Spring,
All of nature’s pretty things.
The plants, the animals,
the sun, the sky.
The birds above,
as they fly by.

Wishing you a JOY filled day!

The tree in front has buds. I swear they were not there yesterday, and today they are. Bright green-gold buds!

Big Train, Little Trains, Cows and a Starship

I’ve been meaning to share this, but as it turns out this is the perfect time for it. Are you up for a mini-virtual day trip?

Early in March, we visited the Scottsdale Railroad Museum. We walked through the Peoria Depot and learned about the Merci Trains. The Presidential Roald Amundsen Pullman Car was next. Below are a few of the photos I took. Follow the link to watch a very interesting video on the history. It’s a short one.

They have a glass partition in the dining area for protection. Here is a floorplan. It is for the Ferdinand Magellan, but the layout is pretty much the same.

Sitting Area, Roald Amundsen Pullman Car

Next up was the 10,000 square foot model railroad building. WOW! I never knew there were so many different sizes of model trains! I took lots of photos until my phone died. But somehow I managed to get only one good shot of a moving train. Haha. Most of my images were of the miniature cityscapes.

First up a huge globe.

Had to laugh at the lego cacti.

Throughout the exhibit, there are orange hands you can touch to activate the displays. The spaceship rose out of the crater. Cue the Twilight music. Do do do do, do do do do.

Saturday,-in-the-park... — Saturday,-in-the-park…

Goodbye Santa Fe!

My photos don’t do justice to the displays. There was so much to see. In every direction. There is more information here and each gauge group has a link to better photos and even some videos as well. The whole time I was writing this post, the Conjunction Junction song was in my head. Anyone else remember Schoolhouse Rock?

I hope you enjoyed the trip! And if that isn’t enough to fill an afternoon, take a look at the world’s tiniest model train! WOWzers!

Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil.
Bishop Reginald Heber

Wishing you JOY and good health!
Stay safe friends!

Day 10 Of The 30-Day Creative Gathering

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Day 10, FEB C.G., 4 x 6, on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

All kinds of wonky going on her. The table is uneven, (and I used a guide, how did that happen?). The pot is the leaning tower of turquoise. But I didn’t say so. Haha! I tried to capture how the leaves twist and turn. I didn’t quite get it this time, but I can always try again.

The table is slightly darker in life. I like it here, It has a bit of a sheen to it. I’m so in love with my snake plant. Mostly because it is STILL ALIVE. I haven’t killed it. And every time I look, there is a new leaf or two. Sweet!

This was a quick little postcard. I have a busy two days, so I wanted to get ahead. Whew! I got ‘er done! I put down the background color first. Covered the entire piece. I left some white areas and some blooms. That provided interesting textures in some of the leaves. I went one layer too many though and lost those details. Lesson learned. Instead of trying to glaze to “mix” colors, I should have painted with the color mixed in the palette.

I was having fun, and working fast, next time I will be more thoughtful. Still, I am happy with how this turned out. The varying greens. But I think I would like a warm “wall” behind it.

You know me, I had to do it. I did a digital edit. I copied part of day 9’s background and pasted it here. Let me know which you prefer.