"Peregrinos", a color and composition study.

There was a fiesta in Atotonilco this past weekend that we spent some time at. The combination of smells, sounds, colors and action was just amazing. The splash of colorful tarps and umbrellas. Vendors selling. Smells of mesquite smoke, roasting corn and carnitas. Banda music and the drums of traditional danzantes and the rattling metal on their costumes. Small bells ringing and women singing as their procession of pilgrims arrives at the church. Men on horseback. Costumed locos dancing. And all of this going on at once. What a sensory rush.
I am going to work on some smaller paintings as studies for larger pieces of the fiesta. This one is a color and composition study. I will probably try at least one other variation on this scene before I work up a larger painting.
These ladies are heading to the church upon arrival in Atotonilco. They were singing and one of the women was ringing a small bell. They traveled by bus from their home state and will spend a week on a religious retreat in this town before returning back home.



"Peregrinos", 6x8" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
the enlarged image is about actual size.




Detail of "Peregrinos". Frank Gardner © 2009
The enlarged image is larger than actual size.

"Ben"

I spent the morning painting at Rancho del Sol Dorado the other day. I worked on two paintings. A landscape that I am doing some adjustment on in the studio and this painting of a horse that was tied up down at the stables. His name is Ben. Even though he was tied up I knew that he would be moving around on me and the background would stay the same. So as soon as I had my composition drawn in lightly I sketched in Ben while he was in the position that I wanted. He backed out into the sun and never went back to the original spot. Glad I sketched him in first. I had taken a photo that I later used to check my drawing of the horse. I only had to adjust the spacing between his front and back legs just a bit.



"Ben", 6x8" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$500. Framed. Available at Windrush Gallery, Sedona, AZ

"Out and About"

Thought that I would lower my vantage point on this one. I really like how the hen's head breaks the horizon line in this one instead of looking down on her.



"Out and About", 14x18" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2009
Private Collection