About The Artist

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Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Hello! I am a fine arts painter, with a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. My primary painting medium is oil and alkyd, and mostly I work in a representational style. My greatest challenge as a painter is to capture the effect of light; and my greatest joy as a painter is to accomplish that. Many thanks to those readers who have been following this blog since Day 1 (May 19, 2008). To those who are visiting for the first time today...Welcome, and thanks for dropping by!

Saturday, November 30, 2013

My New Online Gallery at Daily PaintWorks

Sunset Strip #20: Lake Howell, FL. Original oil on gessoed wood, 3"x9.5"
SOLD


About a week ago, I decided to join Daily PaintWorks, a website where artists can show their work and interested buyers can peruse and purchase originals done in a variety of traditional media, sizes, and subject matter.

To get started with this new venue, I am auctioning some of my smaller paintings, most with a starting bid of only $10. If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you may recognize several of the paintings.

I've already sold two paintings this week ("Real Lemons" and "Sophisticated Lilies") and will be putting several others up for auction over the next few weeks…just in time for holiday gift giving (or holiday art collecting for yourself). I'll also being adding some "Buy It Now" paintings for those of you who prefer instant gratification or don't want to wait for an auction outcome.

If you are reading this while on my blog page (www.CarolAdamec.Blogspot.com), just look to the right hand column of this page and you'll see the heading "My New Online Gallery." Just below this heading is the Daily PaintWorks box with rotating images of my paintings. You can click there to be taken to my Daily PaintWorks gallery page.

If you are reading this via your email, just click on this LINK which will take you to my Daily PaintWorks gallery page.

You can also go to http://www.DailyPaintWorks.com and type in my name Carol Adamec in the "By Artist" box under "Quick Search" at the top of the far left hand column of the home page.

I hope you will take a look at my new online gallery. Thank you and enjoy!

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Image & text ©Carol L Adamec, 2013

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Long View

Landscape Sketch #8 (San Antonio Oxbow),  2013.
Original oil on gessoed panel, 4"x6"
(NFS: Artist's Collection)

Besides meeting very nice artists to share an outdoor painting session, the great thing about being in a plein air group is that you get to paint in places that you might never discover on your own. That was the case when I painted with the Monday Painters about a month ago. 

We gathered around 4:30 in the afternoon on the west side of the Rio Grande River on a sandy cliff. Spread out before us was an incredible long view looking to the east. The San Antonio Oxbow is directly below the cliff, and extends to the bosque, speckled with old cottonwoods in various stages of green-to-yellow color changes. 

Beyond that are the treetops of Albuquerque's neighborhoods sloping up to the Sandia Mountains, that were just starting to take on a pink blush of the coming sunset.The light and air were perfectly clear. 

With the sun warm on our backs, we all painted away for the next two hours, enjoying this unique view. A truly fabulous day for plein air painting, and I was pleased with the painting I completed, too.

Thanks for taking a moment to visit my blog. I hope you enjoyed this post. Have a great day.
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Image & text ©Carol L Adamec, 2013

Monday, November 11, 2013

Truth or Beauty?

Landscape Sketch #7 (Nightfall),  2013. Original oil on panel, 4"x6"
(Private Collection)

Most of the time I go out during the day to paint en plein air. However, with the days getting shorter and the light having such a different quality now than during the summer months, I've been painting in the late afternoon.

A few weeks ago, just about 45 minutes before sunset, I drove down the road from home to a pull-off that has a great view of the Sandia Mountains. I set up and quickly painted the mountains while they still had some fading light on them. I intended to wait for moonrise, with the light coming up behind the mountains, to capture the full moon that evening.


I had checked the moonrise time for that day (You really can find out everything on the internet!), which meant waiting another an hour and 40 minutes before I could finish my painting. I had a little lantern to provide light on my palette for mixing paint and seeing my panel. I waited, and waited, and waited. One by one the stars came out, faint blurs of light in the sky until the night deepened. But no moonrise. Hmmmm....

So I packed my gear up, drove home, and again checked the information on the internet. Moonrise was at the time specified, but on the east side of the mountains. The moon did come into view that evening, about 45 minutes later than I expected, but behind the clouds that had rolled in. So my intended painting remained unfinished.

A few days later in the studio, I painted in the sky with a color that appealed to me and added a sprinkling of silver points of starlight that I had seen that night. Not entirely a truthful rending but still a beautiful result, I think.

Thank you for taking a moment to view my blog. Hope your week is off to a great start.
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Image & text ©Carol L Adamec, 2013

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Plein Air Fingerpainting

Plein Air Landscape Sketch #6,  2013. Original oil on gessoed panel, 4"x6"
Private Collection
As I've mentioned before, autumn in New Mexico is truly beautiful. The air is clear and crisp, and this year is especially colorful with all the cottonwoods decked out hues from bright yellow to deep gold.

Knowing that the leaves won't stay on the trees forever, I was itching to get out to plein air paint but had commitments for paintings that required time in my studio all week. Finally, I broke away on a Sunday afternoon and headed for the Sandia Mountains. I got all set up, ready to paint, and realized I had forgotten my paint brushes at home. Ugh!

Going back home was out of the question. The daylight would be gone by the time I made the trip there and back. I scrounged around in my car and came up with one #8 flat brush, a Q tip…and my finger…just enough to get this landscape sketch "painted."

When I got home, I cleaned up a few edges and added a few details. Not bad. I may try this "technique" again.

Thanks for taking a moment to view my blog. Have a great day.
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Image & text ©Carol L Adamec, 2013