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!

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.