Another Day of Painting Out

Last Saturday I spent the whole day out painting with my friend Jerome. After a morning of landscape painting in the direct sun we decided to paint in town somewhere so we could get some shade. I wanted to take him over to El Chorro because he had enjoyed driving down this steep windy street the other day. There is a lot of history to the area that I wont go into right now. There are also a lot of tall trees for shade.
We settled on a spot and set up our gear. I wanted to paint a statue of The Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego. Jerome chose to paint the tower part of the building surrounded by trees.



"The Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego"
10" x 8", oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2009
$720. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner




My painting toward the end of the session.
Frank Gardner © 2009




Jerome and his painting.


One thing about Mexico is that no matter where you go it seems there is something going on. We thought that this would be a pretty quiet spot on a Saturday afternoon. Turns out there was a big wedding reception a few doors down below us so we got to listen to music the whole time that we were painting. Then we heard some sirens and a running race came by us heading up the steep hill. Then some mariachis strolled by on their way up to play for another wedding at the church up above us. There was also a folkloric dance class on the balcony one up above us. Plus all of the families and couples out for a walk that passed by to see what we were doing. We also got to watch an old VW Bug slide down the steep cobble stoned street almost bashing into the wall and a few brave kids fly down the hill on their bikes, obviously getting a big thrill by doing so. All of this, plus some lively joking back and forth between Jerome and me, made for some good times.
Oh, and we also had fun painting!



The lead pack of runners.




Mariachis walking up the hill to another wedding at the church.

On the Spot

Lots of new work, but not lots of photos of the finished paintings. Here are a few on the spot photos from the past two weeks.


Untitled, 14" x18", Frank Gardner © 2009

This one is from today. Not quite finished yet. I am going to touch up the tree a bit when it is dry. Maybe a few other spots here and there too. I love this scene and have been wanting to paint it for a while. My friends Holly and Mario from this ranch wondered why I wanted to paint the ugliest spot on their property. I think it has a lot of good color and shapes.





Untitled, 11" x 14", Frank Gardner © 2009

Last night Jerome and I were invited up to a rooftop to paint with two of my students from the workshop last week. This photo is about 5 minutes before I had to stop painting. There were some rain showers drifting around. It made for great light and a dramatic sky, but when the sun sunk behind a big cloud bank my light was gone. I'll finish this one up soon. I worked on it for about 45 minutes I guess. You can see how I approach the block in stage.
Below is the sky looking back the other way.



Frank Gardner © 2009





Untitled, 18" x 24", Frank Gardner © 2009
Private Collection

I set up my Gloucester easel (Take it Easel) on one of the mornings of my workshop to demo a larger painting. The class worked on their own while I painted this landscape. Jerome helped the class with their paintings so I could keep going on this one. I need to adjust a few values, but this is about how I left off. There was a lot of great color in the atmosphere earlier in the morning. It has pretty much flattened out in this photo.





"La Capilla, March '09", 11" x 14", Frank Gardner © 2009
Private Collection

This is the same scene from a demo a few weeks ago. I was asked if I would do a similar demo for the second class. The composition is a little different. Again, you can see how much the light has shifted from the time I started the painting.

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.

"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

Artist Umbrellas

Eric Merrell has written a great post on his blog about artist umbrellas.



I mentioned my new EasyL umbrella in a post last month, but Eric really goes into a bit of the history behind artist umbrellas and reasons for using them.

In his post, Eric shares a lot of good thoughts.
Among other things he mentions "color relationships". That is something that I always try and get across in my workshops. The way that one color looks COMPARED to the other colors around it.
Eric has a lot of good ideas on color and painting. It is worth a scan through the other posts on his blog if you are not familiar with it.

So go there now.

A plein air video by Jeremy Lipking and Tony Pro

I recently posted about painting in the rain while we were up in Maine.
My friend Jeremy Lipking and his buddy Tony Pro have a video they have done about a recent plein air painting adventure.
You can check it out here.
Then go to Jeremy's blog and tell him it's time to put up a new post on his blog.

Thanks everyone for asking Jeremy to post something new. He posted today, so you don't need to ask him any more.
Thanks.

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

A few more from Maine

Here are three more paintings from the trip to Maine.
These were painted mostly on location with a few adjustments back in the studio.

I don't have a lot of time to write much about these right now, but I wanted to get some more of these paintings on the blog.



"Morning Light in Port Clyde", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection





"The Lindsey Lou", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$950. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner




"At the Pier", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection

Painting in the rain

You don't always get beautiful weather for painting.
However, if you travel this far to paint, YOU PAINT!

Our first day of painting was the only rainy day we had. Luckily I had just gotten an new Umbrella set up from Artwork Essentials.

Peter and I found Colin painting in the parking lot for the ferry to Monhegan and decided to set up next to him in the rain.
We were getting some blowing rain on our palettes, but it was not too bad that we could not go on.



"The Laura B", 8" x 10" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection


The Laura B is one of the ferries that run from Port Clyde to Monhegan Island.
The misty fog on this rainy morning made for a real nice effect. I painted on this one until the fog lifted quickly and the scene changed so drastically that we could not go on. There were boats moored and an Island behind the boat and pier.
I put a few finishing touches on this one here in the studio, but it is pretty much the same as I came home with.
One thing I notice is that I make the cabins on my boats too tall. I adjusted this one down with the aid of a photo reference.


I was painting right along the water's edge and it was cold.
I know.
FYI, the EasyL umbrella comes with a little chord that you tie to the umbrella part and the extension arm part. The umbrella part is made so it can blow off in a gust and not knock over your whole set up.
That is a REALLY good idea.
Trouble is, I did not think that I needed to do that and this being my first day using the umbrella, it blew up and off, did a couple of rolls, and landed in the water. I quickly stepped in before it had a chance to drift too far away. Then I tied it on like it is supposed to be.

Since I was talking about umbrella set ups the other day. Here are some shots of umbrellas that some of the other painters had.



Peter Kalill painting the same scene.




Colin Page painting a house in the rain with his umbrella set up and his nifty landing vehicle that he uses to go plein air painting along the coast.




Eric Merrell, Peter Kalill and Colin Page under the tent


After abandoning our first location we took shelter in a tent left over from a party the night before. It was on a dock at the co op pier and had a few good views. I think there were 8 of us painting under there at one point.
The wind was whipping the rain around and I don't think it really kept any of us very dry.

I may post my painting from under the tent another day. I am still thinking about a few things.

That evening many of us had not had enough frustration, so we set up on the front porch of the house we rented and painted off into the woods. That piece is almost a complete failure, but you never know what might happen to it. I wish I had taken a photo of the scene I was painting, it would have improved my options on that one.



Jerome Greene sitting, Paul Schulenburg with the red cap, and my new EasyL Lite paint box and my EasyL umbrella.


I like this umbrella a lot. It is tall, so I can get it up and away from my face when I need to. I like the silver on the outside and black on the underside. That is a real plus in the strong Mexican sun because it helps cut down on the glare. It is the only umbrella I have ever used. So I can't really judge for sure.
Several of the other painters said they liked it better than the ones they had.
I had never used an umbrella before, but it really helped out a lot. I was always twisting my set up around trying to get the palette and painting in the same light. Now I can just set up where I want.

I added these new shots of the umbrella broken down and the clamp. The strong clamp really sets it apart from some of the other umbrellas I've seen.

Painting of Eric Merrell

This is the piece that I was painting If you happened to notice the two seconds that I was in Jeremy's video.
The light on Eric and his set up that afternoon was great.
I adjusted a few things even though I did not have a very good reference shot to work from. I thought the color was a little cold, and after seeing the video, I realized that I should warm it up a bit, and get some of the warm grass that the sun was hitting in the foreground.
Here are the two together so you can compare the two and see what I changed.


"Eric Merrell Painting", 8" x 6" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection


"Eric Merrell Painting" unfinished version, Frank Gardner © 2008


I also adjusted his face so it looked a little more like Eric.
His gesture is pretty much right on and that was not really altered.
The two areas of sky were confusing, so I lessened one of them.

Below is a detail of his face and arms. I was after the way he holds the brush and that roll of paper towels under his arm.



"Eric Merrell Painting", detail, Frank Gardner © 2008


Eric has a great umbrella that he works under. It is white with a black layer on the underside. It sticks in the ground, so it is independent of the easel and It can be tethered down with ropes if it is windy.


Eric's cool umbrella set up.

"Gull Rock"

One of the places that we painted on Monhegan was Gull Rock. After arriving on the ferry we hiked across the island and perched ourselves on some pretty high cliffs to paint.
Colin was up for climbing down the cliffs to paint at the bottom ( see photo below ).
The water is pretty cold here and the current strong. They say that you should not fall in, because there won't be time for anyone to rescue you if you do. Besides freezing to death.

Here is one of my paintings from this location followed by a photo of the view.


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



View of Gull Rock, Frank Gardner © 2008



Colin Page painting at Gull Rock



Peter Kalill painting at Gull Rock



Paul Schulenburg painting at Gull Rock

"On the Rocks"

One of my goals for this trip was to paint some larger paintings on location. I typically stick to smaller panels that I can slip in my wet panel boxes or Open Box.

This painting is a 16" x 20" canvas.
That is as big as I have painted plein air in a long time.

There are some great rocks along the Maine coast. This one was done late one afternoon.
One benefit that I can see to painting larger is that there is more room to play with the brushwork, and to get a greater variety of color into my masses.



"On the Rocks", 16" x 20" oil on canvas, Frank Gardner © 2008
$1,650. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

plein air nocturnes

A bunch of us on the Maine trip went back out at night and painted some nocturnes.
Down by the Marshall Point Lighthouse seemed to be the place where most of that went on. It was pretty dark and not many street lights, but well lit by moonlight. That made the light pretty nice.
I have been wanting to try a nocturne painting for a long time, so I was psyched that the others were up for it too.
I had a clip on book light that I attached to my Open Box. Eric Merrell had a great idea where he taped some wax paper over his book light to diffuse the light a bit. I just put a piece of paper towel on mine and it did the same thing.
I was surprised how well I could judge the colors with just that little light that was shining on both the painting and palette.
I pre mixed all of my colors on my palette first to compare and adjust them to each other. Then I put them on the panel pretty quickly.



"Nocturne Shoreline", 6" x 8" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008

This one was along the shoreline with a two lone lights at a house in the trees. This was my first nocturne ever.




"Nocturne Shed", 8" x 6" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008

From the same spot I painted this little shed near the lighthouse.




"Nocturne Rocks", 6"x 8" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008

This last one was of some waves crashing on the rocks. This one is pretty simple, but I like how it came out.
The pre mixing really helped me to keep my values in check. I also tried to remember that you don't really see to much detail at night and resisted the temptation to throw in too much.

Painting Trip Update

I am in New York now, on my way back to Mexico.
The painting trip was great. It was so much fun to get together with so many painters and hang out for more than a week. We did a lot of painting and had a lot of laughs.
There are a lot of things to post, but I only have a photo of this painting so far.
I painted this from the cemetery on Monhegan Island. I really liked the way the buildings were arranged and the light. Great light out there on Monhegan.


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



Here is a photo of most of the painting group getting ready to boat ride back from Monhegan Island.
Back row standing left to right: Jeff Bonasia, Paul Schulenburg, Eric Merrell, Casey Baugh, Jeremy Lipking, Logan Hagege, Ernesto Nemesio, Glenn Dean,
front row left to right: Frank Gardner, Eric ?
Missing from photo: Peter Kalill, Colin Page, Jerome Greene.

I'll have another post about the trip soon.
If you are interested in reading more, Colin Page has posted a little about the trip on his Journal.

"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

Painting Trip

I am going on a painting trip to Maine with a group of friends.
Starting Thursday, I'll be away from the blog for about two weeks.
This is a painting that I did on my last trip to Port Clyde in Oct. 2006 with Peter, Paul, and Jerome.


"Fishing Pier, Port Clyde", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2006
Private Collection


There are a few blog posts cued up to appear while I am gone, as I will be without an internet connection for most of the trip.
I'll be sure to respond to any comments when I can.

This ought to be fun. It is a great group of painters.

Check out these links to some of their work.
Peter Kalill
Paul Schulenburg
Jerome Greene
Colin Page
Jeremy Lipking
Ernesto Nemesio
Glenn Dean
Logan Hagege
Casey Baugh
Eric Merrell
and Jeffrey Bonasia

Plein Air oil Painting Workshop in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

I am now ready to register participants in my March '09 Workshop.
March 9th through 13th, will be the dates for the five day plein air landscape painting workshop in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.


Photo Frank Gardner © 2008


There will probably be one other 5 day workshop scheduled for Feb or March, but I am not ready to set dates for that just yet.
I want to go ahead and start registering participants for this first class, since I know that a lot of you like to plan a trip of this sort well in advance, and there are already some people that are ready to sign up. I will announce dates for a possible second week toward the beginning of October.


Photo Frank Gardner © 2008


In the workshop my emphasis is on trying to help everyone advance to their next level.

A strong and simple value pattern is key to a successful painting, we will work on getting values correct from the start and keeping them clear throughout the painting process.
We will work on seeing color and value then mixing color using a limited palette.
Premixing colors on your palette, and choosing the best design for your composition are a few of the things that we will focus on in this workshop.
An emphasis will be on getting a strong start to your painting so you don't need to waste time reworking the design later. Accurate color mixing is key to capturing the mood of a location.
I will do several demos, but the majority of the time will be for painting and individual guidance. There will be some quick painting exercises as well as time for longer painting sessions.
I feel that a strong start is the key a successful plein air painting and we will focus a lot on "starts" as well as how to bring a good start to the desired finish.


Photo Frank Gardner © 2008


The cost of the 2009 workshop will be $530.USD.
Included in cost:
PAINTING INSTRUCTION.
DAILY TRANSPORTATION to and from the painting sites.
LUNCHES for ALL FIVE DAYS.
Any FEES needed for entrance to locations.

Each day we will be treated to a delicious meal prepared just for us by the owners of the beautiful properties where we will be painting. Past participants have always been very satisfied with what our hosts prepare for us.
The painting locations are on private property and there are always bathroom facilities available.

The painting day generally works out like this:
Pick up is around 9:30 A.M. for transportation to that days painting location.
There is either a quick demonstration or talk about the days goals and then everyone gets painting while I give one on one attention.
Break for lunch is usually around 1:30 or 2:00 P.M. depending on our painting progress.
The break for lunch lasts about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Then everyone gets back to painting for the rest of the afternoon until around 5:00 P.M. when we will be transported back to town.


Photo Frank Gardner © 2008


This workshop focuses on landscape painting. However there are lots of painting opportunities in town as well, and you might want to consider spending a few extra days in San Miguel to explore what the town has to offer.
San Miguel has many lodging possibilities. There are many fine hotels, B&B's, apartments or houses to rent. Everyone will be responsible for their own lodging and transportation to and from San Miguel de Allende. The closest airport is in Leon, (airport code BJX), about and hour and a half ride from town. I can recommend a transportation service to shuttle you to and from the airport. Mexico City is about four hours from San Miguel by bus.

This workshop is for oil painters only. All levels are welcome, but you SHOULD HAVE SOME EXPERIENCE PAINTING ON LOCATION.
If you are interested, email me at frank@frankgardner.com with any questions or to receive the materials list.
The class size is limited to 9 or 10 participants for lots of personal attention.
For info on San Miguel and lodging visit portalsanmiguel.com
If you would like other lodging options or have any questions, email me at frank@frankgardner.com.


Please do not finalize any travel plans or lodging until you have confirmed with me that there is space available in the class.
A $200. USD deposit is required to hold your spot in the class. I will give you information on how to send a check to me once availability for your participation is confirmed. The deposit is fully refundable up to one month before the start of the workshop.



Photo Frank Gardner © 2008