My family has a pretty large collection of my older paintings.
That's what happens when you don't sell many of them.
It is always nice to see all of those older paintings when I visit.
Here are two that I am particularly fond of.
The sizes are approximate. I guess I should have measured them.
"Fish", 30" x 24" ? , Frank Gardner © 1989
Private Collection
"W", 24" x 24" ? , Frank Gardner ©1989
Private Collection
Thanks for all of your well wishes for our trip. I'll get to posting a bit about that later.
It was just a family trip with no painting or blogging.
There is a lot of work to catch up on.
35 comments:
Hey Frank,
Welcome Home!!! Finally a new post!
It's good to have you back and posting work, and I love these older paintings. I get a kick out of seeing the stuff that has more of a mix of abstraction and realism. Nice work. You posted an abstraction from the RISD days a while ago and I remember liking that one alot too. The abstract stuff has the energy and brushwork of the abstract expressionists.
Glad your back.
Colin
Thanks Colin!
These are from around the same time as that one you mentioned.
If anyone has not seen that one you can click on the vintage Gardner label at the end of this post.
I like the energy in the brushwork too. Sometimes I get mad at myself these days if I get too tight with the brush.
Hope to have some new things to share soon.
what up amigo?
i think i might need an intervention.... was jonesing the whole time you were gone not seeing you post.
how was that? not posting..
didnt you feel weird not doing it after three or four days?
glad you made it back safe and you got some down time. welcome back to the working world again.
Oh, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so glad your vacation was great - but, my eyes are very excited - when I refreshed your page and saw something new I shouted out in excitement. I really did!!!
But, mostly, I'm glad your family vacation was so great that you didn't once think of your blog. That made me smile many times in the past few weeks!
Thanks for sharing your painting archives!!! Way fun!
Solveg
Hi Mike. LOL, an intervention, ha ha.
Sorry buddy, I needed some quality family time without thinking about work.
It was hard not painting. I got an itchy hand once in a while, but I controlled myself.
I missed posting too. I only looked at other blogs on one or two occasions for a few minutes.
Hi Solveg.
Had to get something up here for you.
We had lots of fun.
I'll try and get some more posts up soon.
welcome back frank! i love the down time of vacation, great how you come back feeling refreshed and raring to go. did erin have a good time? these older works are so different from you current paintings. how in the world did you make such a transition? i love these, especially the fish painting, so much energy in it.
Hey Frank,
Good to see you back - it amazes me how attached (or addicted) we get to seeing new work on a person's blog, and go into withdrawal when it is not there! I LOVE these older paintings. There is so much in each to enjoy and investigate! Do you slip into the abstract realm any more? I would think that every once in a while, you would fire off one of these just for the sheer fun of it - they each look filled with light and joy.
Welcome back - my addiction has been satiated for another week. :-)
Joanne
I never would have guessed this was your work in a hundred years...so different but you can still tell it's the handiwork of a gifted and confident painter.
All the best,
Todd
Well... Mr. surprise I have great amazing abstract art undermy sleeve.. you. These are great!
I specially looove the one with the flower. It is great to see this other side of you. I like it too :o)
Welcome back my friend!
Thanks Christine.
I am refreshed and raring to go, but exhausted from the trip. I need a vacation.
Erin had a blast, and so did we.
Have no idea about the transition. That stuff just kind of happens.
Hi Joanne. I had a little blog withdrawal myself.
I don't slip too far into abstract any more. It is always fun to visit these and some others that are up at my parent's and sister's houses. I feel inspired to try something along those lines. It is hard to think of it like that though, because I dont want to just try and paint something that looks like this, it needs to come effortlessly from the heart.
Hi Todd. Ha ha.
Thanks.
Hola Alicia.
Oh yes, I have a million surprises.
That "W" one was based on an old encyclopedia I had and it was the letter W.
Wildflower, Wind gauge or wind vane, something like that. etc...
It's good to be back. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.
I KNEW there was a tie-in in that painting - W - weathervane, window, water, wildflower......all of that.....I rotated that painting over and over to see into it more - wondering if it was looking in through a window that was reflecting something else, and maybe even a mirror somewhere (all in abstraction, of course). But, it had a smartness to it - I knew there was a tie-in. Thanks for sharing that!!!
Fun to read how others were "jonesing" along with me. We should have started a Frank Gardner withdrawal support group blog. Maybe next time you go on vacation we can all plan ahead!
: )
: )
: )
Solveg
Glad you're back, Frank! So good to just unplug for a while, no?
I really like these older pieces... interesting to see how your work has evolved. I wonder how much was conscious and how much not...
I'll have to work on that support group thing for next time. I'll be away for a few weeks in Sept.
I hope that it will go smoothly for everyone.
Frank--welcome home! We'll join you in SMA in another 6 weeks or so. These pieces are so filled with energy and intensity--it's hard to imagine you as a youthful artist full of p___ and vinegar. So interesting to see the evolution.
I had a ton of older paintings in my garage and had a big Yard/art sale this past May. Sold 17 of 'em and financed the purchase of a supply of frames. Think I'll do that every year, unless I get invited to show in the Louvre, or someplace.
Good to have you back.
Thanks Jennifer.
It IS good to unplug for a while. That is a good way to put it.
I hope to come back to the easel with a fresh eye.
About the older work. It is hard to say how things evolve. Looking back you can see things that happen that you are not aware of at the time. Other things are results of trying to improve or tackle issues.
That would be a long post to try and analyze each and every change that I have gone through. I would probably get it wrong anyway.
Thanks Jack and it will be good to have you around down here. It is a nice time of year for painting in Mexico.
Ahhh, maybe that is what I was full of.
That fish is a very cool piece in both meanings of the word.
welcome back, frank! thank you for posting your new/old paintings, they are beautiful and one can see how you have evolved as an artist. beautiufl work! theresa miller
What a treat to see these, I love them. Did you know back then what your future paintings would look like?
Thanks onpainting!
Hi Theresa, thanks!
Hi Ambera. Thanks! No, I really had no idea how my paintings would evolve. That stuff just kind of happens.
When I look back, I can see things how things moved along. There are so many influences and reasons.
I love the semi-abstract with the anemometer!
Love that painting of the fish and the energetic loose paintstrokes. Inspiring!
Thanks David, thanks Diana.
I am thinking that I may try to add a bit of that expressive brushwork and borderline abstraction into a few new pieces. Just for fun.
wow, those were done when i was still in high school, haha...
i like the abstract one at the bottom
Thanks Simon.
So very Rauschemberg!
Hi Silvina. Well you know Rauschenberg was a big influence on my work back then. So was Jasper Johns and Larry Rivers. I think these two lean a little more toward the Johns/ Rivers influence.
I have been revisiting these influences in a few new paintings to see how it would come through in my current work.
Great that you're back! Missed my Frank fix. These are really cool, your pallet's pretty similar and your brush strokes are familiar here but you've your compositions now are some of the best I've seen any contemporary painter do. It's nice to see your growth, though these are beautiful, too!
Thanks Eric. I appreciate that about my compositions. You've got a pretty good eye for design too, so that means a lot.
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