Painting the Tulip Red

Red (Tulip), 2010

Original, oil, alkyd on panel 6" x 8"
SOLD

After painting so many greens, it was fun to paint all these reds. Actually, after letting the painting dry, I glazed the reds.

Glazing involves brushing on a transparent mixture made with a tiny bit of pigment—in this case, a cadmium red—diluted with a lot of medium, which I painted over the red of the tulip. The result is a "deepening" of the color that really sings. As you can see, the tulip color appears highly saturated and seems to glow.

BTW: My friend Sondra, who took the original photograph of the "Pea Pods" I painted for the last week's post, dropped me an email: "These are mimosa or aka silk tree seeds. Gardeners and horticulturists could be offended!" I am red faced, since I used to have a mimosa tree and should have recognized the difference! Once again I have confirmed that I am no gardener, although I am very happy to have friends who are! I'll be changing the name of that little painting, right now.

Thanks for taking a look, and enjoy your weekend. I'll see you next week.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Text and image ©2010 Carol Adamec. All rights reserved.

Out in the Garden

Mimosa Pods, 2010

Original: oil, alkyd on panel
Unframed size: 7" x 5"
To purchase, contact the Artist

Although I haven't posted for a couple of weeks, I've been painting almost daily. I started five new paintings--mostly small ones---all different subject matter. This is the first one dry enough to scan for uploading.

I'm still into painting the greens, accented with some hot reds and bright yellows. It turns out that the palette knife practice that I struggled with on those palm tree paintings a few weeks ago finally paid off. I knifed in the background on this little painting to layer the color and keep it loose. It was actually fun!

I hope your week is going well. Thanks for taking a look, and keep cool!
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Text and image ©2010 Carol Adamec. All rights reserved.