Tag Archives: #cacti

Day 2

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Day 2, FEB C.G., 8 x 8, mixed media on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.
Day 2, FEB C.G., 8 x 8, mixed media on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

This is a Sansevieria Snake plant. The stems are round like a pencil. So different, and so interesting. Another WIP. Haha. Oh, that green! It’s not easy being green, and this green is monstrous. Ghastly. It’s Grinch with a hangover. Haha.

I started with a geometric stencil. If you look closely, you can see hints of that on the right. I painted some of those shapes solid, and some I only outlined. I added a couple more layers, and inadvertently buried most of that detail. Haha.

I added white marks for texture, wiped it off. Tried something else, that I can’t even remember, wiped that off too. Experimented with green pastel. Wiped that off as well.

This morning, I tried using the same stencil again, win an ink pad. That sort of worked. I started to soften it with one more layer and lifted the non-waterproof (apparently) ink. The good news is, I was able to clean the ink off completely. Haha.

The pot started as a whitewash. then terracotta. Next a rustic, scratchy blackish. Nothing felt right. Until I tried the blue I used on Day 1. Windsor Blue. Deep teal Blue.

I found this very scientific description. It made me laugh.

Definition of Windsor blue: a grayish purplish blue that is redder and paler than average delft and redder, lighter, and stronger than average navy blue.

After scanning the image, the obvious answer was simply to crop it.

Ah-ha! Postcard.

Day 2 cropped, FEB C.G., 8 x 8, mixed media on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.
Day 2 cropped, FEB C.G., 8 x 8, mixed media on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

February 30-Day Creative Gathering, Day 1

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Day 1, FEB C.G., 8 x 8, mixed media on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.
Day 1, FEB C.G., 8 x 8, mixed media on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

Woo Whoo! Here we are again. I am so happy to hear that so many of you are as excited as I am. It’s going to be a fun, and productive month!

There is a variation of greens and blues in the background of this Moon Cactus. Layers of texture that are not showing well here. I will continue working on this. The stones need help and the head needs attention as well. I did not add spines. They are so tiny, and on the yellow , they look dark and sort of dirty. I may just add some white spines around the edges.

You can see some of the texture here.

Gesso Texture
Gesso Texture

I found a basting brush at the dollar store awhile back. Made use of it in the first layers. Additional layers were added with a brayer, and there are small splatters as well.

Basting Brush
Basting Brush

Happy Creating to you!

Day 23 Of The 30-Day Creative Gathering

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Day 23. 2019 C.G., 8 x 8, watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2019 Sheila Delgado.
Day 23. 2019 C.G., 8 x 8, watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2019 Sheila Delgado.

I’ll be trying this one again. My first thought was to do the background in the dark blue I used on Day 20. I am tempted to go back in and do that. The reference I used was a huge plant, so my second thought was to just do layers of pads, and play with the colors in each one.

I was reminded by Val van der Poel, that Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils are permanent. That sort of slipped out of my brain. For the first layer of this, I used a stencil and Inktense. I applied the color with a small make-up wedge sponge. (Thanks Natasha!)

First step.

Well, you know watercolor. WET, watercolor. Made a mess even though I dried the sponge. But I like the result. I grabbed a #2 pencil and used the eraser to add more color.

Next time I will try to remember to plan better. To plan period. Haha. Painting this is always fun. Might see one or two more this week.

Scenes from my neck of the woods. There was a fire a couple of days ago. The second in as many weeks. The smoke came in over Mingus late in the afternoon. No one was in danger, and it was a distance from us. I always jump into research mode when I spot smoke.

Fire in the valley. SMD 2019
Fire in the valley. SMD 2019
Glorious rain this afternoon. SMD 2019
Glorious rain this afternoon. SMD 2019

We had a lovely, gloomy afternoon. I watched as the white clouds rolled over Mingus. They moved in very quickly. Soon after we had thunder and a downpour. Yes!