Tag Archives: sheiladelgado.com

Seven Days

Day 1.

Seven days, seven B&W photos of your life. No people, no explanation.

Another memory from the fire. The day that I drove my friends brother to see what the damage was, we walked through the remains of both houses. We took photos, so that the two families could see for themselves. Residents were still not allowed back.

We found a few angel chotchkies that had sat on his mother’s kitchen windowsill. And all the knives were sitting upright and perfectly spaced as if they were still in the wood block. Only they were now on the floor, and missing all of their handles.

Some of the adobe walls of her parents house were still standing, leaning slightly. And all along them, on both sides, was a pile of sand. Adobe that had been shed.

Ok Sheila, where are you going with this?

At my friend’s house, (same property) I found a perfect Sea Biscuit. Pristine white, just sitting there. I reached to pick it up, and it disintegrated through my fingers.

How in the world, does a delicate sea shell survive (almost) a wildfire?

Day 2

Day 3

We celebrated my brother’s birthday last weekend, HaPpY BiRtHdAy Brother! When he arrived at the house after dark, he accidentally ran over a King snake. King snakes are immune to the venom of other snakes. Including Rattlesnakes. They take on snakes and prey larger than they are, and kill by squeezing the victim to death. They are not poisonous. If you look closely, you can see that the stripes are not all perfect.

My brother didn’t want to hurt him, so he moved the snake to the other side of the street. But I, and my brother’s wife, told him the humane thing to do was to kill him quickly. It was obvious that the tire had clipped the snake’s head.

I kept getting close, to get a good picture. Everyone told me to back up, but the snake was barely moving. Besides, that was the most exciting thing to happen during this seven-day challenge!

So yeah, I am a weenie about spiders, but I can handle snakes.

Day 4

Day 5

Love the “changing” shapes of the mountains.

Day 6

New growth. Five or six new leaves there.

Day 7

Again, Really?

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Color Play, WIP. 4 x 8 watercolor on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

Busy working at my desk for a couple of hours last night. Needed an art break so I grabbed a small scrap of paper, watercolor pencils and crayons, and played with color. Pulled my watercolor box from its resting spot at the back of the desk, placed the towels in their usual work area. (They sit on top of the water cups when not in use)

Colored for a few minutes then reached for a brush and dipped it in water. Started to…

Ugghh!

Right in front of me, and dime sized, black spider runs from under the towels, around the left side, and back towards the wall. I sat frozen. Sort of surprised I did not freak out actually.

UGHHH!

(Made a little graphic for presentation.)

I gingerly started moving everything off my desk. 5 canvases, a short stack of papers to be scanned, the stack of my mini’s in progress, and a stack with Lally’s class PDF’s and some odds and ends to read. Moved the art cart away from the desk.

I tapped everything first, so if the spider was there he would get the hint to move on. Threw everything on my bed. Then, when I did not find the spider, I realized that was a bad plan. Moved everything to the bookcase next to my desk.

Searched everywhere, moved the desk away from the wall. Because you know how I feel. It isn’t over until you have bug guts on your shoe. After a few minutes and no spider, decided to retreat to the laptop, and wait him out.

I purchased Karin’s recommended bug sticky pads. And am happy to report I did not see any spiders for about five days. And what galls me is that I just cleaned and reorganized my supplies and desk. Ugghhh! So yeah, I know. It is probably my fault. I disturbed the little bugger.

Watercolor pencil chart.

Oh, and I finally made a watercolor pencil chart. I had little scraps with doodles before. Now all the colors are on one sheet, and it is laminated!

After working for about an hour, and still no spider. I figured he most likely traveled over to the bookcase. Where all the desk items were moved. Oh great.

So, with my desk empty, at 11:30 I decided I might as well scrub the desk surface. Planned on doing it after I had finished these projects, but what the heck. Spic and Span now.

Put a sticky trap on my desk. Sorry to report it is pristine this morning. There is really no where he can hide, I checked the printer, back of the computer, wires, back of the desk. under the desk. I am sure he has moved on. But still, with no corpse, How can I feel comfortable sitting at that desk????? Stupid spider.

OK, as for the art. This was really just a warm up, before my painting session that never happened. It is looking blurry here, but there are some very interesting areas where the colors come together and mix and bloom. Neo II’s and watercolor pencils.

Working on Laly’s class today. I was so excited to paint last night. We celebrated my brother’s birthday this weekend, and the painting had to wait. First layer is on and the canvas is calling!

Enjoy your day everyone!

Little Bits

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Fresh Start. 4 x 6 Acrylics on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

I like this better now. Not stripes, now there is a flow. Having a hard time getting the colors to scan true to life. The brightest green is not nearly as neon. And the tone in the bottom right corner is more sap and less avocado.

Not sure where I will take this next, but I do feel it needs a bit more work. Contemplating. Here is a reminder of where it started.

I have painted, a little each day, haven’t taken the time to edit and post. I conquered a major project. Well, half of it at least. I scanned all my family photos. Been meaning to do this for, well a decade at least.

The wildfires of 2007 made it more important. I have good friends who lost three homes in one family. Parents and two sisters. One family on the La Jolla reservation lost 20 homes. Sisters, cousins, parents. It was devastating.

I worked at the Rincon Harrah’s Casino, and could not get to work the day the fire started. A good friend was already working, and she was trapped, with many others, for three days at the resort. No safe way out.

I spent a week in my apartment. Ash was falling, the sky was tell-tale red. Dozens of huge Eucalyptus trees in the complex were destroyed by the high winds. The tree in front of my balcony was torn in half. My back was to it, and it scared the you-know-what out of me. Walkways were blocked, parking was blocked. If anyone needed to drive out of there, they were out of luck.

My place was miles away from the main fires. If you are interested, here are some links to more details. After seeing my friend and her family lose precious family photos and heirlooms, I made it a goal to copy all of my photos, and digitize them for safekeeping.

I figured five days, it took seven. The second half of the task is to crop, name and file each one. Then back them up so I have the files in two locations at least. Later I will restore any that need it, but honestly, that could take years.

Big load off my shoulders though. Having the scanning done.

Back to art.

Mini Mountains. 2 3/8 x 3 3/4. watercolor on paper. © 2017 Sheila Delgado

This tiny piece was just a few minutes of play before lights out. Meant to be a sunset, but it sort of reminds me of fire too. More late night play below. Both Caran d’Ache Neocolor II on gessoed Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper.