Another DIY Project

View of Boca Negra Canyon, Albuquerque, NM

After getting my new art table together Monday, another project arrived in the mail this week. I purchased a Guerrilla Painter 6x8 Pochade ThumBox a week ago, and it arrived Tuesday.

Pochade, from French word poche for pocket, is a type of painting sketch done in a small, portable format. Artists from past eras painted such sketches on small wood panels that would fit in a coat pocket along with tubes of oil paint. Fast forward to today, we now have lightweight compact boxes for painting en plein air with all of our gear.

The two pochade boxes I have been using were wooden boxes that I adapted for painting outdoors. They were workable but had a few shortcomings that became inconvenient after awhile.

My new Guerrilla Painter pochade box actually arrived ready to use (it's cute as a button and very nicely made!), except for some custom alterations I wanted to make. I added a carrying handle, some rubber feet, the metal tripod plate, some removable mixing trays, and I covered the palette mixing area with plexiglas for easy cleaning. Then I gessoed and primed some panels to paint on and loaded the pochade box with oils, turpentine, brushes, and other necessities.

I was all set to go out painting with the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico today—even though it was only 46 degrees this morning, even though the skies were gray with dense thick clouds (my least favorite lighting)—until it started raining, a good soaking drizzle that lasted for several hours. Oh, well, when you live in the desert, you never complain about rain or snow.

I did drive out to the site—Boca Negra Canyon located on the far westside of Albuquerque—and took some pictures of this volcanic rock-strewn area. It's not a landscape you can just see anywhere, and it offers the chance to see petroglyphs, too.

This is New Mexico and there will certainly be a multitude of sunny days to revisit this site and paint. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks for taking a look. Enjoy your weekend!
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Text and image ©2013 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.

"Assembly Required"

I've been in the studio this week, working—not with paints and brushes—but with screw drivers and Allen wrenches.

For Christmas, my son and his family gave me an art table, which has been in the box—Assembly Required—in the back of my car for the drive back to New Mexico after New Year's.

Monday, I decided, was the day to tackle this project. The box was too heavy for me to carry up to the second floor, so I made a few trips until I got all the parts into the studio. It took about 3 hours to put the table together. Actually, it went together pretty well, thanks to good photos and clearly written directions.

It's nicely made, and the top can be adjusted from flat to various degrees of slant. Cool! I'm really happy with it and look forward to using it.

Thanks, Kids. I appreciate the nice gift!

PS: The painting hanging above the art table is Salado Cathedral, oil and alkyd on panel, 30” x 30”. The painting is part of my Ancient Sherd Series and was exhibited  at the Harwood Art Center in the "What Remains" show during April, 2012.

Thanks for taking a look. Enjoy your day.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Text and image ©2013 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.

Color of the Year

Winter Lilies, 2013. Boogie Board Drawing.

If you haven't heard, the "Color of the Year" for 2013 is Emerald Green.

Officially, the exact color is Pantone Emerald 17-5641, as decreed by Pantone, "...the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries..."(All quotes are from the company's press release of December 6, 2012, available at www.pantone.com)

It is a beautiful color, indeed, and as stated by the Pantone Color Institute spokesperson, "Green is the most abundant hue in nature – the human eye sees more green than any other color in the spectrum...As it has throughout history, multifaceted Emerald continues to sparkle and fascinate. Symbolically, Emerald brings a sense of clarity, renewal and rejuvenation, which is so important in today’s complex world. This powerful and universally appealing tone translates easily to both fashion and home interiors.” And "art", I would add.

My image for today's post is a bouquet of lilies—another floral still life done on the Boogie Board—presented in the 2013 Color of the Year.

Thanks for taking a look. Enjoy your day.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Text and image ©2013 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.

January Bouquet

January Bouquet, 2013. Boogie Board JOT drawing.

It's so nice to have a bouquet of cut flowers in the house during winter...and fun to draw on the Boogie Board, too.

Thanks for taking a look at today's post. Enjoy your day!
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Text and image ©2013 Carol L. Adamec. All rights reserved.

Happy New Year!

New Year Rose, 2013. Boogie Board Drawing.

Happy New Year!

For this first day of 2013 I am posting a rose drawing done on my new "Jot" eWriter, a Boogie Board device that I'll write about in a future post.

Thanks for taking a moment to read today's post. I very much appreciate all my readers and thank you for following my blog, viewing my work, sending me your comments, and purchasing my artwork. Thank you so much for being a part of my art adventure!