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 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

"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

"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

"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.

Two Landscapes

These two landscapes are from earlier in the summer. Both were done mostly on location and then fine tuned back in my studio after I had a chance to live with them for a while. They are framed up now and at my gallery.

The first one captures the beauty of a gray morning after a night of rain. There was a break in the clouds that kept appearing as I painted this one.



"Break in the Clouds", 11x14" Oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$950. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner


The second painting is a morning view looking toward the sun. Everything is bursting to life with fresh green at this time of year. The grasses and flowers are still low to the ground.



"Summer Morning", 11x14" Oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$950. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

"Don Goyo and Canelo"

Well, you met Canelo in a recent plein air piece that I did.
Goyo is the man who owns him and was nice enough to let us paint in his back yard. He is adjusting the ropes on the wooden rack that is used for tying on loads to the burro.
The day was overcast. Cool light is something I don't have a chance to paint much so it was a fun piece.


"Don Goyo and Canelo", 14x18" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009

"Casa de Don Rosario"

This is one of the paintings that I started when Scott was here. I worked on it for about two hours on location. It's a complex scene, so that was only enough time to get the drawing and a rough block in of the color and value relationships. I added Don Rosario later from a photo I shot while we were painting. Rosario has been riding a horse most of his life and you can tell from his walk. I tried to catch that little detail about him in the painting. Back in the studio I had time to make little adjustments to refine the composition and color.



"Casa de Don Rosario", 14x18" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$1,300. Framed. Available at Windrush Gallery, Sedona, AZ

"Curious"

This is a little studio painting that I just finished up. I wanted to keep this one loose and let it be more about the color and design than the details.



"Curious", 8x10" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$720. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

Open Gate II

I painted this little 6x8 today to work out some ideas for a large painting. This one is based on the plein air piece "Open Gate" from my previous post. Sometimes I like to do a few little paintings like this to play with the design and work out how I want to translate my idea in paint before committing to a large canvas. I am using a few different photo references plus the painting done on location, and this helps get me one step away from the photos.



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