Tag Archives: Visual AIDS

Abstract or Awful?

This has so many layers of acrylic, it feels like an old piece of leather. Hmm… maybe that would be good for making some Christmas ornaments. Trying to stay on the sunny side, because I can’t decide if I pulled this out of the round file, or if I am a dope for posting it.

Abstract postcard, Kat's Forest. Acrylic on 140 lb. Arches cold pressed paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

The tools this time were half of a Popsicle stick, and a palette knife. I started with a warm palette, made a mess of it all and then buried the evidence in blue, green and bisque. The single dark line on the right keeps catching my eye. I think I need to scrape some paint over it and rough it up a bit.

I couldn’t think of a name for this. I my change it if I submit this to Visual Aids 17th ANNUAL POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE. Last night Hunger Games was on. I am really looking forward to the third installment of this series. I want to see President Snow get his butt bruised. Probably won’t happen until Part 2, but the previews look good.

Happy Monday all! May the odds be ever in your favor!

Jingle Jangle

8 Replies

Jingle. 4 x 6 Postcard. Mixed media on 140 lb. Arches cold pressed paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

This postcard is a save. I started with burnt umber gouache and plastic wrap. The color dried to a yucky, blech brown, and I had no idea what I could do to make it better. I got the idea of barnacles, and used negative painting to bring out the shapes. Still blech. The tube of red acrylic was sitting in front of me… BAM.

embossing tools

I added green, blue, yellow. I used brushes, and embossing tools. The embossing tools make great, uniform shapes. The yellow dots on white were too close in value, so I added a black outline to get them to pop. I also outlined the card in black because I know it will be shown on a white wall

Copper acrylic highlights.

Finally I added copper dots to catch the light. The white dots are glossy acrylic. A mistake really, I picked up the wrong bottle, but I like the shine. I think this card would look great in the Visual Aids 17th ANNUAL POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE.

It’s beginning to look a lot like ChRiStMaS.

Postcards

8 Replies

Sitting in on an online pattern design class, and working on postcards. Not really a good idea, I have to admit. Several have turned out rather blah. I may be able to save them as backgrounds, if not I can start over with a layer of acrylic.

This is eye-popping. A contender for submission. I don’t work with red much, but the tube jumped out of the caddy and into my hand. This is actually a “save”. There is a bit of texture under the red, barely shows here, but it really adds depth in the original. Grab your shades before scrolling down, this one is really bright.

Red. Abstract Acrylics on 140 lb Arches cold pressed paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

Oops! Forgot to mention that the “brown” is actually copper, and it adds a bit of shine throughout. It’s a shame it never translates well in the scanning process. When I scanned this one in, well let me just show you…

Red, scanned image.

The colors were horrible. Most often when I scan images in, an adjustment to the vibrance will make the scan look like the original piece of art. With this, I had to use the curves adjustment as well as the color balance. I am sure it is due to the intensity of these hues. I just played with the different adjustment options in Photoshop until I found the best representation. (Image – Adjustments)

Patches. Gouache on 140 lb. Arches cold pressed paper. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

For any artist who is new to Photoshop, you should feel free to play with these options. You can try them on your image, and if you don’t like the change, you can just “cancel” out of the pop up box. You do need to rasterize your image before these options will be available to you.

One more card that is ready. I may use it as a background for some collage. I can add pattern as well.

There is still time for artists to submit postcards. You can find all the information here, Visual Aids 17th ANNUAL POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE.

Happy day ya’ll!