Morning Daffodils...done!

Morning Daffodils

by Carol Adamec
Original: Oil, alkyd on gessoed panel
10" x 8"

And here it is....the Morning Daffodils painting all done.

I'm taking a break this weekend by going to Santa Fe on the Railrunner this Saturday. I want to see the current show at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, "Modernists in New Mexico."

If I don't have a new painting/finished piece to share with you on Monday, I'll still have a report on my trip to Santa Fe. It's always a fun adventure to travel north to "The City Different."

Thanks for taking a look today. See you on Monday.
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Artwork and text ©2009 Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Full Color

Morning Daffodils (WIP)
by Carol Adamec
Original: Oil, alkyd on stretched canvas
10" x 8"

As you can see from today's post, this painting is coming along, with all the major areas and colors well defined. I see a few changes I'd like to make, such as decreasing the size of the kitchen window in the background, and altering a few angles to improve the perspective.

The last stage will be to coordinate all the colors and their "temperatures" so that the light has a consistent feel and "morning" quality as it falls on the various objects and illuminates the space. I look forward to completing this painting over the weekend and posting the finished work on Monday. I hope you'll take a moment to see it next week.

Thank you for taking a look today. Have a great spring weekend, and to those of you who celebrate the holiday....Happy Easter!
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Artwork and text ©2009 Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

First Colors

Morning Daffodils (WIP)

by Carol Adamec
Oil, alkyd on stretched canvas
10" x 8"

As explained in last Thursday's post, I am sharing the day-to-day stages of my working process, from the underpainting to the finished painting, of a new piece "Morning Daffodils."

Today's post shows the first colors I've applied to the light areas, while maintaining the values (the light and dark areas) of the overall image. These first colors are loosely painted into the appropriate shapes...no details or defining hard edges yet. Since I am working from a photographed image, I have also done some re-drawing of the composition.

One lesson to be learned from translating a photographic image into a painting is that the viewer will accept, without question, the "truth" of a photograph and will compensate for any distortion created by the camera lens or angles. At the same time, the viewer is far more critical of the "reality" presented in a painted image, even if the painting is a faithful rendering of the photograph; i.e., it's the artist's fault if it doesn't look "right."

With this awareness, the painter must frequently adjust a painting's composition (and other elements) to resolve those visual distortions in the photographic image. Otherwise, the painter is simply rendering the photograph rather than recreating the reality of what was actually seen at the moment of inspiration.

Well, that's your art lesson for today! Check in on Thursday for Stage 3. See you then.
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Artwork and text ©2009 Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.

Spring Daffodils

Morning Daffodils (WIP)

by Carol Adamec
Oil, alkyd on stretched canvas
10 "x 8"

It's spring in New Mexico.... one week the weather is sunny with balmy temperatures in the 70's; and then the next week it's cold and snowing! The daffodils came out a few weeks ago, and I photographed a small bouquet of them basking in the morning sun on my kitchen table.

This week I've started two new paintings, one being Morning Daffodils, based on the photos I took a few weeks ago.

Some of you have mentioned that you enjoy seeing a painting "unfold" from start to finish. So, I will take photos of this piece as it develops and post the pictures of the process.

Today's post shows the underpainting, where the composition and basic values (lights and darks) are defined. You can see the table edge and flowers in front of a chair, with a window and cabinets on the right side, and on the left, a bright rectangle of light on the refrigerator in the background.

On Monday I'll post the next stage of the painting. See you then.
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Artwork and text ©2009 Carol L Adamec. All rights reserved.