Category Archives: Trees

Pineapple Palm – Day 26 of 30 in 30

Pineapple palm. 5 x 7 watercolor on 140 lb. cold press paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

I am having too much fun painting palm trees. I love palm trees. I love watching them move in a gentle breeze. Listen to their soft rustling sounds.

My favorite, is the Pineapple palm. They are short and stocky, and just as the name implies, they look like a giant pineapple. No wonder they scream vacation to me. Sunny Island, colorful drinks with slices of fruit and little umbrellas. OK, so maybe I watched too much Magnum P.I., but can you blame me?

I am calling this done, but I think I may go back in and add a bit to the shadow on the trunk. Any opinions? That dark line is bothering me. I did go in and add some dark to the trunk, but maybe it needs more. I need to create more of a curve.

Pineapple Palm – Work in Progress.

I created an animation of my progress. Learned a few new things today! The only changes in the third slide are that I removed a stroke on the top frond, it was too long. I also connected the trunk to the fronds on the right side. Little tweaks that I think made a big difference.

Only five more days left in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.

Hope you like the slide show!

Sunset Shadows – Day 25 of 30 in 30

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Sunset Shadows. 4 x 5 watercolor on 140 lb. cold press paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.

I painted until the wee hours last night. And I did finish a painting. You can see it below. I was so “in the zone” that I arrived at my destination, without knowing how I got there. Does that ever happen to you? It’s like I got on the 76, missed my exit on the 15 north. And I ended up at the beach instead of the desert.

Not a bad thing. Just not my intention.

I woke up this morning, and couldn’t get excited about posting the painting. So I decided to keep trying. And painting. And painting. Finally got something worth looking at.

Ochre patchwork. 6 x 6 watercolor, pen on cold press paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

What I had intended for the patchwork, was something a bit more weathered and worn. I added the outlines digitally to see if I liked it before trying with a pen. Turns out even my darkest pen ends up looking a little grey. So the digital version won.

Now it’s time for some dinner, and then I am going to head over to Leslie Saeta’s blog, and see what my artist friends have been up to. Hope you will check it out as well.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Palm – Day 23 of 30 in 30

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Palm. 4 x 5 watercolor on 140 lb. cold press paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

My painting for today counts as a good save. I wasn’t happy with the washed in sky and ocean. I didn’t think to take a photo, but the colors were just too soft. Wishy washy.

I decided I could not possibly make it any worse, and I laid in colors that were left on my palette. It still wasn’t quite right.

Before digital rendering.

I was careful not to wash out the palm fronds, but that left too much “white” area. So I went in digitally and tightened that up.

Much better don’t you think? I love how the background turned out. The tree is iffy. Maybe if I go back in with more color, I can make that better. Over all, I am happy with how this turned out.

Leslie reminded us that this challenge is not about creating perfection every day. It is about developing the habit of painting everyday, getting in the “zone” and learning from our experiences. It is a reminder I needed. Looking at all the amazing art that is being created, I start to feel like I need to be amazing every day too.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Enjoy your day!