Back in the Land of Enchantment

Black on Black, 2012

Original Painting: Oil, alkyd on panel
20" x 20"
Collection of Bernalillo County Public Art Program

I arrived Wednesday afternoon in Albuquerque after a long but pleasant drive. Although there's much to do to get ready for the "What Remains" show opening April 6 at the Harwood Art Center, I thought I'd give my dear readers another preview of work I will be exhibiting in the show.

If you are familiar with the black-on-black pottery style invented by Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo, you will understand the inspiration for the painting posted on today's blog. The work of Maria Martinez and her husband Julian is a fascinating story that you can read about via this link: http://www.mariapottery.com/bio/bio.html

It was fun and a challenge for me to achieve in paint the matte vs. shiny surface quality of this world famous blackware pottery.

To bring out the rich black of the design I used a high gloss medium in my paint mixture, which I later painted over again with several coats of varnish to further increase the gloss. What appears as white dots was done with silver metallic pen.

Thanks for taking a look. Enjoy your weekend.
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Text and image ©2012 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.