"A Moment Together"

The workshop last week went really well. There were 6 dedicated students and I had a good time working with them. The food provided by our hosts at the ranch was over the top... again. I think I'll work on setting dates for another class just to get some more of the food and wonderful hospitality.
Here is a new painting that I just finished. It is of a corner on the main square here in San Miguel. I decided to add two figures in the shadow of the trees for a little balance and scale.


"A Moment Together", 14x11" oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
$1,050. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

"The Old Mesquite" Step by Step pictures

Yesterday I went out to Sol Dorado to paint an old mesquite tree that my friend Mario had pointed out to me. He thinks it is about 300 years old and it looks every bit of that with all the twists, turns, burls, cracks and stubs where branches have broken or been cut off. Every inch of this old tree has a story to tell about its life.
This painting is 18x24" done mostly on the spot. I stopped after about 2 hrs because the light had changed so much on the branches. Then, back in the studio I worked on it for another couple of hours making a few adjustments and giving it a bit more "finish".
I took some step by step shots along the way. Here I will show them without commentary so you can just scroll down and see the process with one image next to the other for comparison. I'll work up some ideas on my thoughts as I was painting this and then re post the whole thing separately later on.
My apologies for the few sun spots that are in the first couple of pictures. I just snapped away quickly as I painted. My mind was on the painting aspect, not making professional looking photos.
There are 8 painting steps shown. The sixth is how it looked when I packed up. The eighth is how it looks now. I still may go back into it and make a few adjustments. For now I am just letting it sit while I think about it.
Below is the scene, and then then the step by step for "The Old Mesquite" 18x24 oil, Frank Gardner © 2010

A Place to Rest

There are a lot of paintings spread around my studio right now.
Some are just sketched in and others are just about finished.
Some are looking good, others, not so good.

I think these two make a nice pair.
The colors are similar, and the shadows are an integral part of the design in both of paintings.
They both have a peaceful mood.


"A Place to Rest" 14x18" oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
$1,430. Framed. Available at M Gallery of Fine Art
Sarasota, FL



"Santuario" 18x14" oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
$1,430. Framed. Available at M Gallery of Fine Art
Sarasota, FL

"Assorted Provisions"

This is another painting that is currently in the "Creative Convergence" show at the Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA.
This woman had all kinds of stuff loaded on her burro and was kind enough to let me snap a few pics as she passed by.
There are some flowers pulled from her cornfield, a few leaves from the cornstalks and some mesquite branches for doing her cooking on.


"Assorted Provisions", 18x24" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$2,500. Framed. Available at Addison Art Gallery


This painting is full of opposing diagonal lines. All of them help to give the feel of action and movement to the painting. Some were ready made for me and others I added or adjusted to suit my needs. The long shadows oppose the direction of the road, the woman's rope, and the base of the cornfield in the background. Her stick repeats the line of one of the burro's legs and even the tilt of his head and oppose the other leg, leaves of corn on the bundle, and even the right side of the mesquite tree behind the woman. There are more, but you get the idea.
If I was going for a quieter feel I would try and include lots of horizontal lines in my design and not so many strongly opposing diagonals.

Three more paintings of Atotonilco

Before 2009 gets chased out the door I thought that I would sneak in one last post for the year.
These are three recent paintings of Atotonilco, Mexico. It's one of the places in Mexico that has been very inspiring to me over the past 20 years.

The first painting is a side view of the Sanctuary in Atotonilco. I've painted a few on this quiet street before. It always has a calming effect on me so I titled this one "Serenity".


"Serenity", 8x6" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$550. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner


This next one is part of the "Creative Convergence" show starting next month on Cape Cod.
The menacing sky really made the church stand out.


"El Santuario de Atotonilco", 14x18" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$1,430. Framed. Available at Addison Art Gallery



The bottom piece is from a few months ago, but I never posted an image of it. It shows a group of women pausing in front of the church before they go inside.


"A Pause in Front of the Church", 8x6" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
Private Collection

"In for the Night"

This is the type of local subject matter here in Mexico that I love so much. People and their animals in the landscape. In this painting Felix and Francisco are bringing their cows back to the coral for the night. This painting is a composite of several photos and the small studies. It took me quite a while to get just the way I wanted it, but I'm happy with the results.

A few months ago I posted a small plein air piece titled "The Open Gate" and another small painting "Open Gate II" both of which I used as reference for this piece. I reposted both of those paintings below.



"In for the Night", 18x24" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$2,500. Framed. Available at M Gallery of Fine Art
Sarasota, FL




"Open Gate", 6x8" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$550. Framed. Available at Windrush Gallery, Sedona, AZ




"Open Gate II", 6x8" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
Private Collection

Plein Air landscape Workshop, San Miguel de Allende. March 8-12, 2010

Dates are set for my 2010 plein air landscape painting workshop in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
March 8-12 from 9:30-5:00 PM
The cost of the 5 day class is $550.USD and includes Painting Instruction, full gourmet lunches each day and transportation to and from the painting locations. A deposit of $200.USD is needed to hold your spot. Email me to see if there are available spots and I'll give you the mailing address to send the deposit.

In the workshop my emphasis is on helping everyone advance to their next level.







This year we will be spending our painting time at Rancho del Sol Dorado, a beautiful horse ranch 15 minutes from San Miguel. Holly and Mario Ortiz are great hosts and each day they will treat us to delicious meals in a friendly and relaxing atmosphere.










Some of the topics we will concentrate on are:

Values: A strong and simple value pattern is key to a successful painting, we will work on getting values correct from the start and keeping them clear throughout the painting process.

Color: We will work on seeing color and value then mixing color using a limited palette.
Premixing colors on your palette, and choosing the best design for your composition are a few of the things that we will focus on in this workshop.

Strong Starts/ Block In: An emphasis will be on getting a strong start to your painting so you don't need to waste time reworking the design later. Accurate color mixing is key to capturing the mood of a location. I feel that a strong start is the key a successful plein air painting and we will focus a lot on "starts" as well as how to bring a good start to the desired finish.

Finish: I will have you chose your strongest block in and use that as a start for a larger, more finished painting done on location.

Demos: I will do several demos, but the majority of the time will be for painting and individual guidance. There will be some quick painting exercises as well as time for longer painting sessions.





The painting day generally works out like this:
Meet for pick up around 9:30 A.M. for transportation to Rancho del Sol Dorado.
There is either a quick demonstration or talk about the days goals and then everyone gets painting while I give one on one attention.
Break for lunch is usually around 1:30 or 2:00 P.M. depending on our painting progress.
The break for lunch lasts about 1 hour.
Then everyone gets back to painting for the rest of the afternoon until around 5:00 P.M. when we will be transported back to town.



This workshop focuses on landscape painting. However there are lots of painting opportunities in town as well, and you might want to consider spending a few extra days in San Miguel to explore what the town has to offer.
San Miguel has many lodging possibilities. There are many fine hotels, B&B's, apartments or houses to rent. Everyone will be responsible for their own lodging and transportation to and from San Miguel de Allende. The closest airport is in Leon, (airport code BJX), about and hour and a half ride from town. I can recommend a transportation service to shuttle you to and from the airport. Mexico City is about four hours from San Miguel by bus.

This workshop is for oil painters only. All levels are welcome, but you SHOULD HAVE SOME EXPERIENCE PAINTING ON LOCATION.
If you are interested, email me at frank@frankgardner.com with any questions or to receive the materials list.

For info on San Miguel and lodging visit portalsanmiguel.com
Or TripAdvisor.com

If you would like other lodging options or have any questions, email me at frank@frankgardner.com.

Please do not finalize any travel plans or lodging until you have confirmed with me that there is space available in the class.
The deposit is fully refundable up to one month before the start of the workshop.

"Rosario"

This is another painting that I will be including in the group show of Mexico paintings at the Addison Art Gallery On Cape Cod starting Jan. 7th. 2010.

Rosario is a quite a character. He is always smiling or laughing and loves to pose for a picture. Especially if he can show off his ranch or animals. He tied this burro up under a tree for Paul, Colin and me to paint. My painting from the day with Paul and Colin was not that successful and is still in that limbo stage of me wondering wether I can pull something out of it or if I will throw it in the stack of clunkers. I don't think that any of us liked our paintings of that donkey that day. It started to rain off and on and the light was real flat. Besides, I've told you how much burros like to move around while you paint them right? We did not have an apple or anything this time to keep him in line. Below this painting are two pictures from that session. Paul and Colin painting, and one of Colin painting. Check out his version of an umbrella. Paul and I both had EasyL umbrellas to keep us dry (ish) but Colin made due with what he had.

This painting is from a different day.


"Rosario", 14x18" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$1,430. Framed, Available at Addison Art Gallery





Paul and Colin




Colin and his ingenious umbrella system.

New Paintings and painting with friends.

It's been quite a while since I last posted something. Sorry about that.
Last month I had 14 friends down visiting and painting in San Miguel. We had a blast, and I can't even begin to write about how much fun I had with them here. I took them all horseback riding one day and I think they all really enjoyed themselves. Here is a lineup of 13 of us about to race across a dry lake bed.



left to right: Felix (his ranch), Ignat Ignatov, Ernesto Nemesio, Peter Kalill, Scott Burdick, Frank Gardner, Logan Hagege, Jerome Greene, Jeremy Lipking, Kevin McNamara, Paul Schulenburg, Jeff Bonasia, Marc Hanson, Colin Page, and a few more guys from the ranch.
Not in this photo are Dan Corey and Alexey Steele.

Below are three of the pieces that I painted around town with my buddies. They will be part of the group shows that we are doing in Jan and Feb, 2010.
I'll post a few more paintings and some info about our upcoming shows. There will also be an article in American Art Collector. I'll let you know when that comes out.



"Looking Over San Miguel", 14x11" Oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$1,050. Framed, Available at Addison Art Gallery




"San Miguel Morning", 14x11" Oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$1,050. Framed, Available at Addison Art Gallery




"Resting by the Church", 11x14" Oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$1,050. Framed, Available at Addison Art Gallery

Painting on location over several sessions

Larger works painted on location often require multiple trips to the same spot, over a period of days, to achieve an adequate level of completion. I've always thought that was not my style. Because, surely, my mood would be different on the following session and mess everything up. Stifling my true art spirit.

Well, I decided to give it a try. Last week I spent the day starting two 18x24" paintings. Put in about three or three and a half hours on this first one and about two on the second, which is not posted here yet. I went back another morning about two days later when the weather was similar. Same start time, eleven a.m.
There was a bad little head cold that beat my butt for a few days. Then yesterday I worked for two hours on this one in the studio. Today I took it back out to the same spot where I had left rocks to mark the positions of my easel legs and had another three hours painting session with it.



The above photo is how things looked this morning at eleven when I had things set up and was ready to go.
I really love these pink-red-white-light yellow grasses this time of year that catch the light just right and have different colors depending how you look at them. They can really light up a hillside or field at the right time of day.



This picture is how it looked this afternoon when I got it back home. I can see a few things that I still want to tweak, but I won't need the actual scene in front of me to work it out.

Hey, what do you know. I like taking the same painting back for several sessions. I feel like Sam I am after finally eating some Green Eggs and Ham.

It won't work for certain fleeting light effects or other similar situations where "capturing the unique moment, raw feeling, light affect thing" is what I'm after. There is some sort of freshness that I love about alla prima paintings done all in one go. But, I'll be exploring working larger outdoors for sure. 30x40 here I come.




This is a picture I snapped while painting this morning. It is the same two trees that are in the left side of the painting. Shows how tall those grasses are. That has been one of the toughest parts in this and I'm not sure it's quite there just yet. They would be a great device for letting you know just how tall that grass really is. Glad they did not pass by while I was blocking this one in or I would have tried to paint them in. Too late now because it would change everything. Maybe in another painting.

Marc Hanson has been doing some great large paintings over several sessions lately. If you have not seen them you should check out his blog. There is a link in my blogroll to the side if you're not familiar with his blog.