September 26 - mini series paintings

"View of San Miguel" 5x7" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
SOLD





"A Chicken and Goats" 6x6" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
$475. Framed

September 24 - mini series paintings

These two are studies for a larger piece that I am going to start working on. A small group of people carrying a few "santos", figures of different saints. These pieces will help me decide on a design I'd like to use. It helps me to visualize how it will look in paint and think about it before committing to a large piece of linen. The detail is suggested, it's the value relationships that I'm interested in with these little guys. I may even end up painting something similar to both of these. They each have such a different feel.




"Santos" study. 6x6" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
$475. Framed






"Devotion" study. 5x7" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
$475. Framed

September 22 - mini series paintings

Today's subject matter is pretty different than my usual preference. I felt like I needed to break away from those photo references for a while and push my subject matter way out of my comfort zone. I don't paint many still lifes, so I thought that would be a good choice. A little girl's stuffed animals seemed an unlikely subject for me, so it was perfect. I wanted to still use some of the rougher scratchy strokes that I have been working with, but painting from life. I set up in our dining room today to paint these.


The first piece is a stuffed animal that Erin sleeps with. It is quite special to her.




"Brown Horse" 7x5" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
$475. Framed
SOLD



This second one is another favorite stuffed animal of hers.




"Yellow Horse" 6x6" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
$475. Framed
SOLD


Here is one for the guys.




"Toy Train" 5x7" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
$475. Framed
SOLD

September 15 - mini series painting

"Viva México"!
In honor of Méxican Independence Day that officially starts tonight at 11PM.




"Viva México" 7x5" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
SOLD

September 14 - mini series painting

"Cabalgata" 6x6" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
SOLD

September 13 - mini series painting

One mini painting for today.
This is a procesion that passed by up the street from our house. Lots of people walking and on horseback. All in celebration of the Dia de Guadalupe on Dec. 12th.





"Procesion de Guadalupe" 6x6" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
SOLD

September 10th - mini series paintings

"Goat" 5x7" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
$475. Framed





"Home from the Market" 6x6" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
SOLD




This third one I started last month as a sketch for "Serene Provincetown" 16x12" that is available at Addison Art Gallery. I kind of abandoned it once I had my design and started the larger piece. Finished it up today.



"Sketch for Serene Provincetown" 6x6" oil on board. Frank Gardner © 2011
SOLD

"Exploring the Bay"

One more Cape painting that I just completed. This is my daughter and our good friend Peter Kalill walking along the beach in Brewster, MA. They are exploring the tidal pools and looking for minnows. I've always loved this photo and have wanted to paint it for a long time.



"Exploring the Bay". 18x24" oil. Frank Gardner © 2010

"Provincetown Blues"

This is a piece from May that I had not posted here yet. Another view of a working boat tied up on the wharf in PTown. All of the subtle shifts in the shadow colors really attracted me to this scene.

I've been busy painting things for my show at M Gallery in November, but I'm not ready to start posting those on the blog just yet.




"Provincetown Blues", 14x18" oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
$1,430. Framed. Available at Addison Art Gallery

Two new Cape Cod paintings

Just sent these two new paintings of Provincetown off to the Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA.

I'm normally drawn to the grittier weathered look of the fishing boats when I'm in Provincetown. In my last few paintings of the town I wanted to explore the quainter street scenes a bit more.




"A Touch of Summer" 18x24" Oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
$2,500. Framed. Available at Addison Art Gallery




"Dyer Street" 18x24" Oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
$2,500. Framed. Available at Addison Art Gallery

Portrait Commission

This is the finished portrait commission. It was my first portrait commission ever and pretty much one of my first portraits period. I don't have much experience with this, but am pretty happy with how it turned out.
Sitting on the spot over several sessions was not an option, so we had a photo shoot at the clients home. It seemed like the best way to approach this was to do a few small color studies to work out a few ideas and present them to my clients so they could visualize what I thought would look good. We ended up taking a few things they liked best from two of the studies and combining them for the main pose with Buddy and the dog, Chico. The final painting is assembled from four or five reference photos plus the studies.


"Buddy and Chico" 40x30" oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
Private Collection


It is now the main painting above the mantel in a room with 10 other large paintings of mine that these clients have purchased over the past 14 years. It is the first time all of them have been assembled in one room and it's kind of cool to view them all together. I enjoyed seeing how my work and style has evolved over the years in the context of what these clients have selected for their home.
I'll try and take a few photos of the other paintings in the room next time I am out there.

"Summer Rose" and a new gallery

Back from a two week painting trip. First I was painting in Sarasota, FL with Marc Hanson for a few days and visiting with the great folks from M Gallery where I'll be having a show in Nov. followed by a 5 day painting workshop. I came back with some a bunch of small paintings. Some of them will be for my show or used as starting points for larger pieces. More on FL later.

Then, after visiting my Dad and family for a few days I headed over to Cape Cod to paint with a group of friends. The usual suspects, Peter Kalill, Paul Schulenburg, Jerome Greene, Logan Hagege, Dan Corey, Jeff Bonasia and Marc Hanson again.

I had a blast, painted a lot and am proud to announce that I am now represented by the Addison Art Gallery, in Orleans, MA. A lot of those guys I paint with show there, so I am glad to be pert of that team. I've been part of a few group shows there before.

Below is one of the pieces I painted in Provincetown. This house had some of the best looking roses in town.
I'll post a few more paintings soon.
Until then.



"Summer Rose" 10 x 8" oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
$780. Framed, Available at Addison Art Gallery

"Terra Nova" - I'm back

Have not posted in a long time. I'm still around. Painting, and taking a break from just posting stuff as soon as I finish it here on the blog. I'll eventually get it all up here for you to see.

Some of what I have been painting is for a two person show that I will be in with Gladys Roldan de Moras. The show will be at the M Gallery of Fine Art in Sarasota, FL on Nov. 5th. I will also be teaching a 5 day plain air painting workshop in Sarasota Nov. 8th through 12th. The cost is $600. and you can now sign up by contacting Crystal at the M Gallery. cwagner@mgalleryoffineart.com

I am heading to Sarasota Florida at the end of this month to paint with Marc Hanson for a few days. He is going to teach me how to be gator bait. I have never painted in Florida before and I'm looking forward to the challenge of some new scenery.

This painting is a painting I just finished of a boat in Provincetown harbor.


"Terra Nova", 14x18" oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
$1,430. Framed. Available at Addison Art Gallery

"Adelita"

Just finished this painting of a horse out at Rancho del Sol Dorado. Most of the details are concentrated around the horse. The rest is painted pretty loosely, but with careful consideration to the relationships between the values.


"Adelita", 11x14" oil, Frank Gardner © 2010

"Into the Valley II"

This is a recent 24x30" that I had been working on for quite a while. I shot a few progress shots along the way, but those images are still on my crashed computer, so I'll just post this as is. I made a few major compositional changes along the way.
Below this one I've posted two small paintings that I did of the scene in 2008 and links to where they first appeared on my blog if you are interested in reading what I wrote about when I painted them.


"Into the Valley II", 24x30" oil, Frank Gardner © 2010
$3,600. Framed. Available at M Gallery of Fine Art, Charleston, SC


"Into the Valley II" is one of my pieces now available at M Gallery of Fine Art, in Charleston, SC. I'll be having a one person show there on November 5th.



"Into the Valley", 11" x 14" oil on linen , Frank Gardner © 2008
$1,050. Framed, Available at Galeria Gardner

"Into the Valley"



"Valley View", 8" x 16" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$990. Framed, Available at Galeria Gardner

"Valley View"

"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