Two Realities

"Pines" 2008
Original, oil on gessoed panel
5" x 3.5" unframed

Since returning to painting this year, I have been rethinking my past working processes.

A lot of my previous work has been "idea driven" —meaning that I had an idea and would then develop the imagery to express or embody that idea. The other component of my artwork has come from an interest in rendering the phenomena of light falling on objects. My source material for developing my artwork came from photographs—ones I took myself or photos given to me by friends to use for my paintings.

Working from photographs is very convenient and helpful...especially when painting light effects. At the same time, working from photos is also limiting, and, in some ways, boring. For me, painting was becoming the challenge of meeting or exceeding the "reality" of the photograph; and I found myself wanting to take a perfect picture to ensure that I would get a perfect painting.

Over the past few months, I have been weaning myself from relying on photographs and painting from direct observation. This has been a completely different experience. There's more looking and seeing involved, many more color decisions to make, and more "do-overs"—wiping out and scraping paint off the canvas. At the same time, unpredictable stuff happens that makes the painting and the reality I am painting come "alive." Painting has become an adventure again!

This little "mini-painting" of tall pine trees was done from direct observation, looking out my studio window.

Thanks for coming along and looking at my painting. You are welcome to forward this blog to others, too.

Have a great day. See you Wednesday!
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Text, image, and painting ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Looking Westward

Gate to the Garden, 2006
Oil, alkyd on panel, 8" x 10"
Original SOLD

Available as limited edition giclée on canvas or Art Print. Contact Artist for purchase info.

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In September, I will be exhibiting with my artist friend Sondra and three of her artist friends from California. Our exhibit will be at the Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Sondra owns a fabulous adobe home in Albuquerque, with a wonderful patio and lush gardens—both flower and vegetable! I've visited her "desert oasis" often and been inspired to paint the flowers and niches around her place. "Gate to the Garden" is one of the views around her house.

Although my trip out West is still a few months away, I am already looking forward to enjoying the view of the Sandia Mountains from Sondra's patio!

Many thanks for taking the time to read this post and look at my painting. You are welcome to forward this blog to others, too.

Have a great weekend. See you Monday!
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Text, image, and painting ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Dry Shell

Dry Shell
Original, oil on canvas panel

5" x 7"

SOLD

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When the construction crew was digging the foundation for my sister's house, this shell was uncovered. It's a good size and quite heavy, pock marked with "history" and worn from years of erosion in the sandy soil, yet completely intact. It was sitting on the bookshelf in the family room where I discovered it a few weeks ago when looking for something to take to the studio to paint.

Since the shell is basically a white item with very little color, getting the drawing right and the light and darks to reveal the form were important.

In some way, the shell presented similar challenges as the "Black Purse, Red Lipstick" painting. Both paintings have minimal color and rely on lights and darks (called "values" or "shades and tones") to made the painting work.

I am pleased with how the textural effects of the shell's surface turned out, too. It was nice of "The Muse of Inspiration" to show up and give me a hand that day!

Many thanks for taking the time to read this post and look at my painting. You are welcome to forward this blog to others, too.

Have a good day. See you Friday!
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Text, image, and painting ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Monday's Rose

Monday's Rose, 2008
Original, 10" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel
SOLD


Here is the "final" version of the rose, which you have seen in progress over the past couple of weeks.

I reworked the background several times, overlaying colors to vary the lights and darks, and warm and cool colors. One can play around with innumerable possibilities! This is called "nuancing" in "art talk" and can result in very rich color.

For all my readers, this rose is for you. I hope your Monday is a pleasant one.

Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I appreciate your interest, support, encouragement, and comments. You are welcome to forward this post and painting to others, too.

See you Wednesday!
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Text, image, and painting ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

A Little Night Music

A Little Night Music, 2003
Oil, alkyd on gessoed panel
Original available: 24"x24"

Also available as LE Giclée on canvas or open edition Art Print. Contact Artist for purchase info.

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I first fell under the spell of Georgia O'Keeffe's imagery when I was a student at The Art Institute of Chicago. The Museum owned "Black Cross of New Mexico," one of my favorite paintings in the collection.

As mentioned in my post on May 23, I discovered the datura—a beautiful white flute which unfurls into a magnificent blossom at night—while living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is the same flower that O'Keeffe depicted in some of her paintings.

"A Little Night Music" was the second datura painting I did, just awhile after completing "Moonlight and Datura." Being a former student of piano and a fan of Mozart, I added the musical notation of "A Little Night Music" arranged as stars in the night sky.

The original painting is available for purchase, as is the signed and numbered Art Print sold through ETSY: http://www.caroladamec.etsy.com). "A Little Night Music" is also available in limited edition as a giclée on stretched canvas or on paper. Contact me for additional information about any of these items.

Have a great weekend. See you Monday!

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Text, images and artwork ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Paint It Black

Black Purse, Red Lipstick
Original, oil on canvas panel
8"x10" unframed

Contact Artist to purchase.

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It's been about a week since I posted the grisaille rendering of this "still life." You would think that a black purse would be easy to paint...just use black paint mixed with white. But then the purse has no color—it's just all shades of gray, like the grisaille rendering.

To create "black," I mixed various combinations of dark pigments—phthalo blue, phthalo green, alizarin crimson, burnt umber, and burnt sienna—and then mixed in some white to paint the highlights and lighter tones.

I painted on it last week and yesterday, and I do believe it is finished.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting, please contact me, and I will email you a better photo. The painting will be dry enough to put on the scanner in a day or two.

Thanks for looking. Have a good day today, and a wonderful Thursday. See you Friday! ___________________________________________________
Text, images, and artwork ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Catching the Light

Catching the Light, 2003

Oil, alkyd on gessoed panel

Original available: 29" x 48"

Also available as LE giclée on canvas, and open edition Art Print

Contact Artist for purchase information

I was a tom-boy growing up in suburban Chicago, and so was my cousin Marilyn who lived about a mile away. My aunt's first husband was the brother of a Chicago White Sox player, so baseball was "in the family."

During summer vacation, Marilyn and I played baseball on the empty corner lot that her family owned next door to their house. The lot was a perfect playing field—a half block long, with a running border of neatly trimmed hedge defining the property and our field of play. She and I were very good players, and each of us was the captain of the two teams we assembled from kids in the neighborhood.

When I prepared the sketch of the yellow lily for the original painting "Catching the Light," there was something about how the lily opened and stretched forth that reminded me of playing baseball on a summer's afternoon. I recalled those times when I would reach up to catch a hard hit flyball. It was more an act of faith and instinct than skill to stretch out my arm as far as I could to catch the ball...and somehow, there it would be...in my mitt.

I gave the lily that same stretching gesture, that same reaching in faith and by instinct for the sunlight.
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Images and artwork copyright ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing the original painting or a limited edition giclée on stretched canvas. Also available as an Art Print through my ETSY shop: www.CarolAdamec.ETSY.com

Rose Revisited

Rose (in progress)
10" x 8"

As you can see from today's image, I spent a good bit of time working on the rose painting; and it's closer to being finished.

I do believe the drawing is better and the rendering is tighter (read: "more realistic"). The foreground (the table that the rose is sitting on) is too pink for me, and the background too mahogany red and dark. What do you think?

It was a short day in the studio Thursday, since I did a little "Father's Day" shopping for my son and brother-in-law. I worked on the "Black Purse" painting today only for about an hour, so you'll see that painting next week.

It's the weekend. May all the Dads out there have a wonderful Sunday!

Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I appreciate your interest, support, encouragement, and comments. You are welcome to share this with others, too.
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Images and artwork ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Back to Basics, Part 2

Rose
(in progress) 10" x 8"

I did work on the "Black Purse" painting on Monday. However, Tuesday it was still too wet to work on or complete in time for today's blog. So, you'll probably see it Friday.

In the meantime, I turned my attention to one of the 12 unfinished paintings in my studio.

Over the weekend, I started this little still life shown here, and was not happy with the drawing. (Usually when I am unhappy with a painting, it's the drawing that needs attention. But it takes me awhile to realize that.) I worked at least an hour on the "shoulders" of the vase and just could not get it right...duh, back to basic drawing! Then the painting was just too wet to mess with, so I set it aside.

As for the painting, I again began with a grisaille rendering. Although most of the canvas is covered with color, you can still see the rose petals done in light shades of umber. Eventually, the rose will be a deep pink. You can also see from this example that I do start out my paintings with all over, loose brushwork.

Check back on Friday to see which painting I get done, and how it turns out. Have a good day!

Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I appreciate your interest, support, encouragement, and comments. You are welcome to share this with others, too.
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Images and artwork ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

BACK to BASICS

Black Purse, Red Lipstick

Grisaille (in progress)

8" x 10"

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Saturday I arrived at the studio and was not inspired to work on any of the 12 unfinished paintings awaiting my attention. So, what else could I do... I had to start a new painting!

Looking around the studio, I decided to use my purse and a tube of lipstick for my "still life." I then began this painting as a "grisaille" ( pronounced griz-EYE, a French word for "shades of gray"). Traditional art academies taught grisaille to sculptors and painters alike. Sculptors use grisaille as a means to represent relief sculpture. Painters employ grisaille as underpainting, often in preparation for color glazing techniques.

Grisaille paintings are most often done in black or burnt umber, mixed with white. I used a bit of both mixtures for this rendering. Since I am "in training" to paint more quickly, I timed the drawing, blocking in forms and laying in the various lights and darks—about 90 minutes. On Sunday I reworked a bit of the drawing part, and tweaked a few of the lights and darks—another 15 minutes.

As you can see, this is a "first draft" of the still life. Since the items are associated with women, I gave the purse some "body," likening the folds of leather to folds of skin. With luck, I'll have the finished painting to show you on Wednesday....in full color!

In the meantime, have a good day today, and a wonderful Tuesday. Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I appreciate your interest, support, encouragement, and comments.

You are welcome to share this with others, too: http://www.CarolAdamec.blogspot.com ____________________________________________
Images and artwork ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

GOOD NEWS...Follow up

Heads or Tails, 2008
Oil on canvas panel
8" x 10" unframed

Contact Artist to purchase.

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As you may recall from my May 21 post, I had two flower paintings accepted for the Orlando Museum 's "1st Thursdays" event. The third entry (which was "rejected") was Heads or Tails, shown here.

Ironically, when I went to check in the paintings at the Museum yesterday morning, the receiving staff asked for Morning Tulips and Heads or Tails! Apparently, there was a mix up, but they took the two flower pieces for the showing.

So, I thought I would show my blog readers what the Museum goers missed last night. Heads or Tails was based on a photograph I snapped in Shanghai on my trip to China in November 2000. Even though, on one hand, Shanghai is a modern mega-tropolis that makes New York City look like a small town, there are still many open air markets and and street vendors that sell "fresh"...really fresh...consumables.

My interest in doing this image was the challenge of painting the exquisite range of reds in the picture. I also enjoyed figuring out how to create the visual texture of fish scales. (I used a piece of plastic mesh.)

Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I appreciate your interest, support, encouragement, and comments.

Have a great weekend. See you Monday!
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Images and artwork copyright ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Different Strokes....

Moon Crazy (Luna Loca)

Oil, alkyd on canvas over panel.

Original available: 30" x 36"

Contact Artist to purchase.

The painting featured today began as an abstract image, a rare venture for me to attempt. I prepared the canvas by stretching it over a masonite, gessoing the canvas, and then applying a spray-on texture to give the canvas a rough surface; and then began painting the abstract image. After several weeks of work, the painting was finished. I even framed it.

After several more weeks, I was "over it" and decided to recycle the canvas, intending to use it at a later time. As I was randomly repainting the canvas, the image of a wild horse—legs splayed out, tossing its head—just "appeared." I was so surprised by this apparition, but decided to "go with the flow." After refining some details and adding the full moon, it was done. I named it Moon Crazy or "Luna Loca." The entire transformation, from abstract painting to expressionistic image, took about 5 days!

This painting always evokes a definitive response—folks either love it or hate it. My son and daughter-in-law selected a large giclée of Moon Crazy for Christmas two years ago, while a friend of mine, who was coming to my house one evening, asked me to hang the painting in another room, out of her sight!

That's the great thing about art: There are different strokes for different folks!

The original painting, completed in 2000, is available for purchase. Moon Crazy is also available as a limited edition giclée on stretched in several sizes, and as an open edition Art Print via my ETSY store: www.CarolAdamec.etsy.com. For more information or questions you may have, please email me.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your day. See you Friday!
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Images and artwork copyright ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Planting Peace

Mary's Peace Lilies, 2008
Oil and alkyd on canvas panel
6" x 8" unframed
SOLD
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I've always been fond of the peace lily. It is beautiful, hearty, and doesn't require a lot of "maintenance."

It appears that the plant is a good thing to have in one's household, since it is able to absorb indoor "contaminants" and pollutants. Some sources claim that the peace lily can absorb the radiation emitted by televisions, radios, computers, digital and electronic devices, and may have a positive effect on people undergoing radiation or chemotherapy treatments.

According to Feng Shui practitioners, the plant can balance and harmonize the energy in home, bringing calm and "peace" to relationships.

I usually think of the peace lily being an indoor plant. Here in Florida, the plants grow quite well in outdoor gardens, as I have depicted in the painting featured today.

Maybe this is a good week to add a peace lily to your environment!

Thanks for looking. Your questions and comments are welcome.

Have a peaceful Monday. See you Wednesday!
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Images and artwork copyright ©Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved