"TOO MUCH ART" Sale: Day 1

Here are the first two paintings offered to those who signed up for my "TOO MUCH ART" sale.

 
SOLD "Moon and Morada"   Original painting, oil on art board, 16.5 x 17.5” framed.  Price: $100

      

Moon and Morada was completed in 1995. I had just moved to New Mexico the year before and began the challenge of painting Southwest landscape imagery while becoming acquainted with the culture of my new home state. 

Traveling down random roads on weekend drives, I came across small, rustic adobe churches in outlying villages scattered across the State. These little churches had been hand built by the Penitentes, a lay Catholic brotherhood of local religious believers, and had survived hundreds of years in the dry New Mexico climate.

I found these structures to be fascinating, even mysterious, especially depicted nestled in a surrounding mountain scape, bathed in moonlight.

       Silk Seeds, original painting, oil on cradled panel, 

                7” x 5”, unframed.  Price $20.

                                            

I did this painting while living in Florida for a few years.

Unlike the Southwest landscape, Florida has a plethora of green vegetation—a good place for an artist to develop one’s skill in mixing a variety of green hues. These seed pods are from the mimosa tree also called the silk tree, which is native to the Middle East and Asia.

I love the mimosa’s fern-like leaves and the bright pink flowers; and the seed pods I painted here in oil on a cradled panel.

New Mexico Morada...Done?

New Mexico Morada, 2010
Original, oil, alkyd on panel
Unframed size: 9.5" x 8"
Contact Artist for purchase information

I'm posting late today, as I just got home from Florida last night. Before all of you get jealous, let me tell you that it wasn't exactly sunbathing weather in Orlando last week....it was cold (for Florida), windy, and rainy!

Anyway, before running out the door to catch the plane, I finished re-working this painting. As you may recall, I started this painting almost a year ago, worked on it for a few months, and then set it aside. If you check back to the post on 5/18/09, you'll see the last version before this rework.

Most of the "new" painting is in the background, which is a reminder to me that all parts of the painting must work to create a cohesive image.

Thanks for taking a look. Have a great week.
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Text and image ©2010 Carol Adamec. All rights reserved.

NM Morada revisited

New Mexico Morada (WIP)

Oil, alkyd on canvas panel
9.25" x 8"

This painting has been sitting on a shelf in my studio since I last posted it back on March 9. It didn't quite work, so I've been just looking at it to determine what needed to be done.

The first change was to alter the 10" x 8" format. By chopping off three-quarters of an inch of the foreground, I think the church seems to "sit" better in the composition.. The new size is 9.25 x 8".

The whites were too cream-colored, so they've been lightened and cooled. I put more background space around the morada building and enhanced the distant landscape, adding some clouds along the horizon to relate the sky to the foreground cross and church.

I'm still not completely certain that the painting is finished, but this is where it's "at" for now.

Have a good Monday. See you Thursday.

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Text and image ©2009 Carol Adamec. All rights reserved.

Progress Report: NM Morada

New Mexico Morada (work in progress)
Original: oil, alkyd on canvas panel
10 x 8"

It's been a few weeks since I began this painting, and it's now fairly well fleshed out in color and composition. It still needs more paint layers and some refinements, but it's coming along.

Many thanks to all who sent me good wishes via email for the Harwood Open House. And I am especially grateful for the local "fans" who came on Friday evening and visited my studio. It was a great evening, with wall-to-wall "arts crawlers." I also met several new folks and sold a few paintings, too.

I did get my studio all spiffed up in time for the event, although it wasn't even safe to open the closet door. Then it took me most of Saturday to get the studio back to a working space again. Creativity and orderliness are definitely opposites!

Have a good week. See you Thursday.
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Text and image ©2009 Carol Adamec. All rights reserved.

New Mexico Morada

"Morada"
Work in Progress

When I first moved to New Mexico back in 1994, I did a painting of a "morada." A morada is a small church of The Penitentes, a religious order which practiced self-flagellation, public whipping, and cross-bearing for self discipline and in homage to the Passion of Christ. (not exactly a religion for the faint-hearted, in my opinion!)

Although this Order was founded in 737 AD in Europe, the only known practitioners remaining in the world by the 20th century were located in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Indeed, in traveling around small villages in New Mexico, one can still find old adobe Penitente moradas, which are always accompanied by three crosses.

A few weeks ago, my friend Sondra and I came across a morada during our day trip north of Albuquerque. In the churchyard was a large cross, and up a steep hill were two other crosses--the traditional crosses of Calvary.

I took several pictures and put together (thanks to Photoshop) this composite image that will become a painting in the next few weeks. As you can see from this preliminary image, I have separated the image into four basic values. Once I get the color mixtures right, the painting should come together handily....at least, that's the "theory."

If you would like more information about The Penitentes or moradas, check out this link to this article: http://www.perillos.com/penitentes.html .

Have a good Monday. See you Thursday.
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Text and image ©2009 Carol Adamec. All rights reserved.