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

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

"Market Color"

Here is a recent painting. I like the look of this one with all the reds, oranges and yellows.
There are a few detail shots below so you can see the paint marks better. I hate putting up a large file of the whole painting, sorry. You'll need to come by the gallery to see it in person.



"Market Color" 18x14" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$1,300. Framed. Available at Windrush Gallery, Sedona, AZ



"Market Color" detail 1, Frank Gardner © 2009
I'm real happy with how the light pants and shoes came out.



"Market Color" detail 2, Frank Gardner © 2009
Frank Gardner © 2009

"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.

"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

"Patience"

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

"Church View"

You may have figured out where this wall that I have been painting the figures is, if you looked at one of the first posts on My Paint Box. It is at the end of this side street in Atotonilco.

In this painting, and this one, I wanted the figures to stand out against the simple design of the street and walls, so the church is left out. In "Church View", the church is the subject, not just the figure. There is a little more detail in this painting than in the sketch. I wanted to emphasize the beautiful design of the church, however a lot of the detail is still suggested.
This painting is based on a plein air piece that I did during my last workshop.


"Church View ", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
Private Collection


Plein air sketch, 8" x 10" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008

I was happy with most of the painting done on location, but the design was rushed, and ended up being too cramped at the top. I had to squash down the main dome of the church to make it fit. Otherwise it would have run off the top of the panel just a bit, and that would not have worked design wise either. I thought about trying to fix this plein air, but it just could not be adjusted. It was easier to re visit the idea in a new painting. The sketch will not be for sale. It is one of those that are just a learning experience, good for use in the studio. Some of the proportions I corrected with the help of a photo. The values were off in the photo, so I followed the sketch on that.

"Thorns"

This wall in shadow is a nice setting to isolate this solitary figure against.
It's the same place as in this painting.


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

This guy is carrying thin branches from a mesquite tree. He will bend them, while they are still green and pliable, into crowns of thorns. Then dry them.

You may wonder why a lot of the figures in my paintings are walking away. I think that it ads to the movement by having them walking into the scene as opposed to out of it at me. That would be a much more static pose. Most of the time I would rather have the viewer being led into my painting.

WIP - The Finished Painting

"Put your brushes down and step away from the canvas"
The voice echoed in my head like a cop on a loud speaker.
"Who, me? Just one more thing."



"Untitled" , 24" x 30" oil on canvas, Frank Gardner © 2008
$3,100. Available at Old Town Gallery, San Jose del Cabo

With some painting time at home this weekend and yesterday, I was able to finish the work in progress (WIP) from the other day.
I shouldn't post WIPs.
This is the post with the first stages.

Oh, I also struggle with titles sometimes. I'll post a title for this piece soon. Can't think of an appropriate one right now.

Work in Progress on a toned canvas

Back to my normal palette of colors for now.
I started two 24" x 30" canvases this weekend. For this painting I thought that a neutral gray toned canvas would work best.
I took all my leftover paint from the first start, added a little more red and yellow to get it warmer, thinned it a little, and toned this canvas.
Another great way to get this neutral toned canvas is to have a failed painting attempt and wipe it down.


The toned canvas was my mid tone. I started painting with my lightest lights, an off white on the warm side. I worked the negative space around the figures legs to get them positioned. The highlights on the hat and the scarves are enough to get the image to read. Then I sketched in a few lines and shapes of a darker tone. There you go, my main value pattern with a light, mid tone and dark.


I did not want to get into too much detail too soon. I am just putting down value notes and adjusting my drawing with paint as I go, working all over the canvas to avoid getting bogged down with the details. I pull the big shapes out first, trying to capture the gestures of the figures. This needs to be accurate before I can start to finish with details. I need to have the framework down so I can lay the details in with confidence in the right spot and leave them.


I continue to make slight value adjustments and begin adding more color. I make some adjustments to the gestures of the figures. I moved the arm up on the woman in the middle. I also moved the right shoulder of woman on the left just a bit to make her look like she is carrying a heavier load in that bag. I have not put the highlight back on there yet.
This is where I had to stop. I hope to wrap this one up before long and post the results.

Viernes Santo- Good Friday

Since it is Good Friday, Viernes Santo here in Mexico, I wanted to share these two paintings that I did my first year living in Mexico. That was 1990.
Here is my confession. I do not know what size they are or the titles that I gave them. I am bad at keeping records of that sort, but I was even worse back then. Maybe it seemed presumptuous to me to think that it would matter. Maybe I was just lazy. They are probably about 24"x30" give or take a little. Oil on canvas. These are scanned from fairly bad snap shots.



On Viernes Santo there are Via Crucis (Way of the Cross or Stations of the Cross) all over Mexico. I was living in Atotonilco, and this was the first time that I ever saw anything quite like this. They reenact the Stations of the Cross with local folks playing the roles. Everyone turns out to watch. They end up with the crucifixion in front of the church.




I liked the fact that the guy in the foreground had his crown of thorns over a wool cap.

I have a few other paintings or the Via Crucis, but I am was so bad about photographing my art and keeping records, that I could not find images.


Here are a few more photos of the procession. These are from 1990 in Atotonilco.
The views from above were taken from the roof where I was living at the time. Then I went down into the crowd. There are a few others taken by a friend of mine, Phil, who was visiting at the time.














Thanks for looking!

"Atotonilco Evening"

"Atotonilco Evening", 14" x 11" Oil on Linen, 2008
Private Collection

I was out in Atotonilco Sunday and realized that they are going to be giving this church a face lift. There are scaffolds along the front and up at the dome that I edited out.
I like it just the way it is now, old, but nobody asked me.
I am going to have to get some more reference shots while I can and maybe I'll get a chance to paint on location one or two more times before it is all plastered up and looks like a cake. They have been doing this to all the churches around town in a bid to get World Heritage status or something. I think they had more charm before, but I guess in another 20 or 30 years they will be back to the old look that I like.
This is painted on a neutral gray panel that was a wipe out from a painting that was not cooperating. It was a perfect tone for this one because there was so much gray in the shadow. I really wanted the golden evening light to pop, and the gray helps to make that work.

"In Front of Arturo's Store"

"In Front of Arturo's Store", 8" x 10" oil on linen, 2008
$720. Framed, Available at Galeria Gardner

These women set up in front of my friend Arturo's store, in Atotonilco, to sell framed pictures of saints, prayer books, crosses and other religious stuff. Pilgrims that come from different parts of Mexico, to spend a week doing pentinence at the church, are their main customers.

The overcast day made it so there were no strong light and shadow patterns to work with.


"In Front of Arturo's Store" Detail 1

I don't like posting images that are so big, when clicked on, that you have to scroll to see them . I would rather post "detail" images. They are fun, because they are like little paintings in themselves. It also allows for a close up view of the brushwork. It's just colors and shapes in the right place.
Any opinions on this? Which do you prefer? Large images to scroll over or details like this?


"In Front of Arturo's Store" Detail 2

I tried to keep this painting simple. I wanted the gesture of the people to tell the story.


"In Front of Arturo's Store" Detail 3

"Good Company"

I have been working on a large painting and a small painting, but they are not finished yet. I'm not feeling gutsy enough to post a work in progress today, so I would like to share this one that I painted last spring.


"Good Company", 30" x 24" oil on canvas, 2007
Private Collection

This woman sits in front of the church every day crocheting. Her cat often joins her. There is a special energy about this place that I can't really describe with words. I think the peacefulness of the place comes across in this painting.
I have included a few detail images. You can get a good feel for the original if you click on them to enlarge.


Detail "Good Company"



Detail 2 "Good Company"


I wanted to try the same scene with a little more of the architecture of the church. This one gives more of a sense of the location. "Good Company" is more about the woman and her companion.
"Good Company" has found the home where it was meant to be. "Sitting by the Church" is available at my gallery in San Miguel.


"Sitting by the Church", 18" x 14" oil on linen, 2007
Private Collection

Two New Paintings

"Chilis and Beans", 6" x 8" oil on Linen, 2008
Private Collection

These two paintings took me way to long to complete. I had a lot of trouble with "Chilis and Beans". Maybe it was the cool overcast light in a predominantly warm colored painting or maybe it was too much detail for the small format. I worked out most of the issues that were giving me trouble including some values that I was not getting right. After days of fighting with this one it seemed kind of picked at, so at the end I went back and simplified things a bit .



"Loaded Again", 8" x 16" oil on Linen, 2008
$930. Framed, Available at Galeria Gardner

"Loaded Again" went smoother than the other painting, but it is not as loose as I had envisioned when I started. I am happy with how it came out though. There was just the boy and horse at first. He looked like a man with nothing to compare his size to, so I added another figure a little bigger. You can tell how big the trees are because you have the people and horse to compare them too. Everything is relative.
I am feeling a little stressed about how these two were going, but they are done now and I am ready to loosen up a bit with my next few.

"Woman and Doves"

Here is a painting that I did today. I took a few photos of the process so you can get an idea of how I worked this one up.
One of the choices an artist has when they begin a painting is to limit the value range that they will work in. This can greatly affect the mood of the finished piece.
My goal was to make this painting in a high value key. That means that the values are mostly light as opposed to darker. Tomorrow I hope to get a painting in a lower (darker) key that I will post here.



"Woman and Doves" Step 1

Another decision that I made before starting this one is that I wanted there to be lots of juicy and loose brushwork. So, I decided to work on this one upside down. That way I am thinking of shapes and colors and not "things". I have decided to show these first two stages upside down, just how I was seeing it when I was painting.

In step 1, I mixed up five or six shadow colors and laid those in rather quickly. I was not interested at all in details here, just getting my design blocked in with some nice variety of color. Notice that none of these colors are very dark in value. They actually look a little darker here than they really are because of all that white linen that they are being compared to. I love painting reflected light, and this scene had some nice light bouncing around on those buttresses.



"Woman and Doves" Step 2

In Step 2, I started to add the light family of colors. Again, I mixed up a handful of subtle color variations on my palette first so I could compare them to each other before committing them to the painting. Since I wanted this painting to have a loose look, these strokes needed to be put on and left alone.
Here is where I began to really work my edges leaving some hard and softening others. I am still working on the painting upside down. I did not start painting the color of the woman's clothes yet. I wanted to get most of my subtle colors down first so I could compare my color choices to the colors that are going to be around her in the finished painting.



"Woman and Doves" , 14" x 18" oil on linen, 2007
Private Collection


Here is the finished painting. I wanted the woman to be the center of interest, so that is where I put the brightest colors and some of the hard edges. I also added the doves here at the end so I could just lay them in loosely and not disturb them by trying to paint around them. I was careful where I placed them. I think that they add to the movement from left to right in the painting.



Detail "Woman and Doves"

I don't know why, but with blogger, it seems that the colors are always better when you click on the paintings and see the larger version. They are closer to the actual colors of the paintings.

"Done for the Day"

"Done for the Day", 30" x 40" oil on canvas, 2007
Private Collection

I have been working on this painting off and on for a while and just finished it and took it down to my gallery. I had done a small one in the spring and thought that it would make a great large painting. The light on the front of the church in Atotonilco and the shadow in the foreground make for a dramatic composition. It took me a while to finish it up because I would bring it down from my studio and hang it in different parts of my house to see how it would look. Then take it back up into my studio and make small corrections. I'll often hang on to a painting like that for a while so I can look at it in different light at different times of day. It's easy to make a painting look good with a light on it down at the gallery, but I want them to look good when some one walks into the room and the lights are out. Then when a light goes on it it just looks even better. It's real important to get your values right for a painting to work well in a darkened room. That is Alfredo walking in front of the church on his way home with the stuff from his wife's food stand down the street. I've known him since I moved to Mexico about 18 years ago. He is a real nice guy. You can see the smaller version of this painting and another painting of Alfredo on my web site. frankgardner.com

"Side Street"

"Side Street", 14"x18", oil on linen, 2007
Private Collection

This is a painting of Atotonilco. This is a small town about ten minutes from San Miguel where I first lived when I moved to Mexico. I painted a vertical composition of this scene on location. This is a studio painting that I did soon after. I'll often do several paintings of a scene to experiment with different compositions.