A New Painting

I've been absent from the blog for a while so I could concentrate my energy on my landscape workshops. They are finished now, so I will try and catch up on a backlog of things that I want to post.
I'll be posting a bit about how the workshops went soon. Marian Fortunati came down for the class and she posted about the days adventures most evenings on her blog.

My painting buddy Jerome Greene is visiting for a few weeks. This is a street scene that we painted the other afternoon. The light was fading fast, so I had to finish up a few things in the studio.


"Bajada de Garita", 14" x 11" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2009
$950. Available at Galeria Gardner


I love how the street drops down so steeply. The purple jacaranda trees are in full bloom right now.

demo block in

This is a demo that I did for the class this morning. I wanted to show how I would block in the main value masses quickly to get the design down before the shadows shift too much. The photo below is the scene a few minutes before I started. You can see how the line of sun on the ground in from of the chapel is still there. By the time I started blocking in, the sun had moved toward me, making the shadow from the tree move a bit. I like it better as a more solid shape.
I probably spent an hour doing this demo while talking and explaining what I was doing and taking a quick break.
It is important to block in all of the light and shadow before the light shifts. If you wait and tackle it one piece at a time the shadows will be inconsistent throughout the painting.


Frank Gardner © 2009



Frank Gardner © 2009


I'll post more about the class as I have time.

Flowers in Landscape

These are two studio paintings that I did around Christmas. I left them hanging when my Mom passed away in early January and never got around to getting photos and posting them.

It's fun sometimes to try several approaches on a theme. To play with different ideas without trying to cram it all into one piece.
Here I was playing with a similar subject and colors but with different approaches and designs. For example, the top one has a big mass of the tree on the left and the bottom piece has the large mass of the tree on the right. The road painting has some visible sky and the field painting does not.
The road leads the viewer into the painting on the top, which is a pretty standard way to lead the viewer into a painting. In the bottom one, I tried to lead the viewer in with just color and brushwork. I am hoping that the eye is attracted to the area of the branches on the right and beyond into the field. Then, over to the far tree on the left and into the foreground again by the light pink flowers on the left. I am curious to hear if that is the path that others eyes are drawn to in that piece.


"Road with Flowers", 14" x 18" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$1,300. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner



"Field of Flowers", 14" x 18" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$1,300. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

"Ready to Load"

Happy 2009 to everyone.

I have been working on and off, mostly off, for the past 10 days.
Time to get back to work.

This is a new painting that I am just finishing up.



"Ready to Load", 14" x 18" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$1,300. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

Happy Holidays

This could be the last painting that I have time to post before Christmas.
Maybe not.
I thought the Red and Green colors of this recent landscape were about as close to a Christmasy theme as I could get.

I wish all of you, and your families, a wonderful Holiday.
May Santa bring lots of gifts for all, and a little peace and prosperity for the whole world.

The excitement is growing around here by the hour.
I mean by the minute.
Christmas is a very exciting time of year for a certain five year old.



"Grazing Cows by the Church", 18" x 24" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$2,300. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

6x8 Landscape and a Street Scene

This is a 6" x 8" demo that I did in September as part of a private class that I was teaching. I am real happy with how it came out. I am always so relieved when a demo turns out well. It makes me look like I know what I'm talking about.
I was explaining to my students how to pre mix some colors first and then start blocking in all of the main shapes.



"Mountains Near San Miguel", 6" x 8" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection

There were less than ten colors that I mixed up to represent the big shapes. I mixed those and adjusted them on my palette before I did any painting.
The main colors that I mixed up were:
1. Darkest color - Trees and a few triangular stacks in the distant field.
2. Lightest color - Clouds.
3. Brightest / strongest color - Flowers
4. Next brightest - Foreground grasses and plants.
5. Light source / sky - The sky would be the lightest value if there were not any clouds. I judged how dark in value to make everything else compared to this value.
6. Background mountain.
7. Mid distance hills.

There were a few slight variations on these, but basically that was it.
I adjusted these a bit on my palette until the relationships between them were accurate.
Once I had all of the relationships between those colors worked out it was just a matter of putting the right shape in the right spot.
The linen panel was not toned first and I laid in the yellow and orange flower colors first to keep them nice and clean. Notice how I massed them into groups and did not think about painting individual flowers and details. I massed together all of the other main shapes and values as best I could too. This is the basis for a strong design.
Once the shapes were all blocked in on the panel I made a few final adjustments. You may be able to see where I laid in a lighter color on the background mountains to adjust the color that I had mixed a bit too dark.

I got the kindest email from one of the women from this private class and I'd like to share part of it.

"Frank, painting with you on our terrace in San Miguel was just an incredible experience for me! Your art instruction was the best I ever received and I think if you'd been one of my art teachers when I started college, I would have stayed with an art major! You have a natural, easy style of delivering information combined with the ability to tailor it to not only the masses, but the needs of the individual, as well."

It makes me feel great when someone gets that much out of my teaching.
Giving art lessons, and trying to make sure that everyone gets what they need out of it, is one of the hardest things that I do, so it is nice to know when it works. Thanks for letting me know "R".


Here is one more new painting from last week.



"El Puesto de la Esquina", 8" x 10" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$780. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner



Edit note: I've removed some of this post to make it more compact for a repost of it Dec. 2010. Therefor a few of the comments below might be confusing.

"Mid Day Light in Atotonilco"

This is a recent painting that I did of Atotonilco.
The rich blue sky really shows off the light yellow bell tower that is to the side of the main part of the church. The sky is dark, because I am looking away from the sun, but it is not darker than anything that is in a shadow area.
The tree adds a nice dark accent, and an organic shape to balance all of the architecture.
There is a lot of light reflecting back up into the shadows, making all of the shadow values pretty light. Therefore, all of the light areas had to be almost white. That helps to show just how strong the sunlight is.



"Mid Day Light in Atotonilco", 18" x 14" oil, Frank Gardner © 2008
$1,300. Framed. Available at Windrush Gallery, Sedona, AZ

"A View of San Miguel de Allende"

This piece was painted right after "Afternoon Light on San Miguel".
It is a companion piece, since the view is to the immediate left of the Afternoon Light painting.
Same time of day, but because I am looking a little to the left, the sun is not casting that orange light on everything quite as much.
Think of it like this. I am standing in the center of a clock face. The sun is at the 8 and the view in the Afternoon Light painting is as if I am looking toward the 1, so it is getting pretty direct light from the orange late afternoon sun.
This view is as if I turned and looked toward the 11, so it receives a bit more of a glancing light and is not reflecting that orange sun so much.



"A View of San MIguel de Allende", 18" x 24" oil on linen
Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection



I wanted to stick to the same color scheme of orange, purple and green as the dominant colors, but these colors are now in different proportions. It has a different tone, but they look good hanging next to each other.
The foreground is not in shadow in this painting, so there is more of the orange up front and in the middle ground with the churches. The greens, purples and blues dominate the distance.
If you open the other painting up in a different window you can just about line them up. Line up the "Afternoon Light on San Miguel" piece just a bit lower than "A View of San MIguel de Allende".

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I had a little time to kill between basting of the turkey so I thought I would put up a little painting that I did a few months ago.
The sun is shining strong, so we will probably have our feast outside today.
Just thought that I would mention that.
I am thinking of all of you, and am thankful to have you all as friends.
Cheers!


"Horse and Reflections", 6" x 8" oil on board, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection

"Afternoon Light on San Miguel"

There are several new paintings that I want to post, but I have not had much time to get them together for the blog.
Here is a new one that I am pretty happy with. This is a late afternoon view of San Miguel. I really like this vantage point of town. There is a small hill and then a dip. The mid distance trees in light are hiding part of San Miguel and then the part that you see here rises up. The setting sun was casting a nice orange glow to everything and the foreground was in shadow. I like the green, purple, orange color scheme of this piece.



"Afternoon Light on San Miguel", 18" x 24" oil on linen
Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection


I'll work on getting a few other posts up soon. Thanks for checking in.

"Sol Dorado"

I have not had much time to work on the blog lately. The screen on my Powerbook has finally broken and is dangling like a loose tooth ready to fall out. I can only work on it when it is propped up against something.
Here is a recent painting done on location.



"Sol Dorado", 8" x 10" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection

One Year of My Paint Box

Today is the one year anniversary of My Paint Box.
I didn't know what to expect when I started this blog on Oct. 30th, 2007.
Now, one year later, blogging seems to come naturally to me.

I want to thank everyone who visits. Especially those who take the time to leave a comment. That way I know you are out there. Knowing that there are readers makes the whole blogging experience much more rewarding.

I'd like to share this new painting with you as a special thanks. I really like how it came out.
This one is hot off the easel. Well, actually, it is still on the easel.
I may change the title one I have time to think about it a bit.


"The Family Business", 18" x 24" oil on canvas, Frank Gardner © 2008
$2,300. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner


One of the reasons that I started writing the blog was a line from the Kevin Macpherson book "Landscape Painting Inside and Out" where he suggested writing about your art as a way to take it one step further.
Blogging seemed like a good way to write about my art and share what I wrote instead of having it on scraps of paper strewn around my studio. It gives a sort of accountability for what I paint and write knowing that someone is looking and reading. The feedback and discussion can be real insightful sometimes.

I did not fathom the scope of the blogging community when I started My Paint Box.
My Paint Box has expanded beyond just writing about my art, and has become a group of friends.
I have "met" a lot of great artists and great people over the past year through my blog and by reading and commenting on other's blogs. People that I probably would never have met otherwise. Not just painters, but illustrators, writers, photographers, and just plain old bloggers and blog readers. My world has certainly expanded a bit because of all of you.
My virtual friends.
I joke sometimes that you all probably don't exist and your comments are just computer generated responses to my ramblings. Like a bizarre version of "The Truman Show" or something.

Luckily, I have met some of you, own some of your art, received signed and doodled copies of latest books from others, and have plans to meet a few others before long. Hmmm. didn't they insert characters into "The Truman Show" to keep him believing?

Well, either way it has been fun.
So...
"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"
Jim Carey from "The Truman Show".

Recent Work

Here are two recent paintings from here in Mexico lest anyone think that I have moved to Maine or anything.
Both of these were done on location this month.
The color in the landscape is starting to turn, but there are still pockets of flowers hanging on here and there.



"Tree and Flowers", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$950. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner



"October Morning", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection


A friend of mine, Jack Riddle, is in town and we have gone painting together a few times. Some of you know Jack from his blog and may have been wondering if he actually made it down. Here is a picture of him painting the other day at a friend's ranch.


Jack Riddle Painting

"Tapetes"

Tapetes are woven grass mats that they sell here. This guy is ALWAYS sitting on this corner waiting to sell one of his Tapetes.
This one was finished up in the June, but I did not get around to posting it.


"Tapetes", 24" x 30" oil on canvas, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection

"Taking Out the Goats II"

This one was finished up a few months ago, but I never got around to posting it.
I did a 14" x 18" version of this, but in that one, the guy has a blue shirt. I wondered how it would look if I changed it to red.
I'll post the blue shirt one below too, in case you don't want to click over to compare them.



"Taking Out the Goats II", 24" x 30" oil on canvas, Frank Gardner © 2008
$3,400. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner


Below is a detail of how I massed the most of the goats into one big shape. The silhouette tells the story along with a few single goats along the edges.


Detail of "Taking Out the Goats II" Frank Gardner © 2008


The first one.

"Taking out the Goats" , 14" x 18" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2007

"January Morning", Plein air and photo

A few posts back there was a photo of this red church across a field.
In the comments, Jennifer Thermes mentioned that she liked to compare my paintings to the photos, so here is a plein air painting that I did the day I took the picture, and the photo of the scene again.



"January Morning", 8" x 16" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection



View while painting "January Morning", Frank Gardner © 2008

"Patience"

"Patience", 8" x 10" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection

"Heading Home"

After a long day of plowing his fields, this guy and his team of horses is heading home.
He puts the plow up on an old tire and it drags along behind the team. I thought that was pretty clever.



"Heading Home", 8" x 10" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$720. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

I always have my camera with me when I go out painting but on this day I was caught without it. My daughter was in a school play that day and my wife had the camera. I was teaching a class and luckily Jane had her camera and took a few shots for me. I don't often paint from someone else's photos but I loved this shot and she was nice enough to let me borrow it for a painting.
Thanks Jane!

"Day's End"

I tried to get the same relaxed peacefulness of the last painting.
Different colors this time, but I think the mood is similar.



"Day's End", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection

"Quiet Passing"

This family with their animals passed by so quietly that I barely knew they were there.
The area is one of my favorite places to go paint. It is very quiet and peaceful, but there is always ambient noise going on in the background. Mexican countryside noise like mooing cows, barking dogs, a radio off in the distance or a passing train. It gets me in the mood to paint.



"Quiet Passing", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection


As a side note. This is my 100th blog post on "My Paint Box".
Thanks for being part of it with me.
Your comments count so much and make me keep going.
I have seen a saying on a few blogs that I have visited that says
" Your Comments Feed My Blog".
It is very true.