"Little Burro"

I changed my palette a bit on this painting and used mostly French Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna and White. Just a touch of Cad. Red and Cad. Yellow to push the mixes here and there but not very much.


"Little Burro", 11 x 14" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$950. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

"Coconut Stand"

Another painting of a roadside stand near the beach here in Mexico. This woman was selling cold coconuts that she keeps in a refrigerator. When you ask for one she gets it out and cuts it open with her machete like she is doing here. Then she sticks a straw in it and you drink the cold coconut milk. It is really refreshing. We bought a couple from her.
The sunlight coming through the palm frond wall and all of the colors really attracted me to paint this scene.



"Coconut Stand", 18 x 24" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009


I wanted to layer small brushstrokes of color to build up the light effect around my center of interest, like in detail 1.
Compared to the looser approach in the other areas of the painting such as detail 2.




Detail 1 "Coconut Stand". Frank Gardner © 2009



Detail 2 "Coconut Stand", Frank Gardner © 2009

It's been a while

Have not finished any new paintings since my last post. I am doing a little renovation at Galeria Gardner, so I have been down there most mornings plus some afternoons. My painting space at the gallery is occupied by a big pile of sand and gravel and some bags of cement.
Here is a painting I did in March during one of the workshops. Some of the painters were having trouble with their paintings and asked about how to tackle such a complex scene in a short period of time.
My feeling is that you need to remain focused on what attracted you to paint the scene. Simplify, and avoid trying to paint every single detail that is not important to your reason for painting that particular piece. In a different painting of the same scene you may find that a different set of details are needed.



"The Corral", 11 x 14" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$950. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner


I was drawn to the groupings of tall straight cactus and their relationship to the more organic shapes of the tree, the yellow bundle of rope hanging from the tree, and the hose. The upper branches of the tree and the stable were not my focus of this piece, so I painted those with a looser approach.
You can really get into trouble if you lose track of what your focal point is when painting a scene where there is so much going on and so many little pieces of light and shadow. I worked the whole painting at once, but I kept coming back to the area roughly between the hose and the yellow rope. I wanted to make sure I got those relationships accurate. Little details here and there in other areas of the painting keep the eye moving around and add secondary interest.
There were too many cactus for me to try and paint each one exactly as it was on a painting this size, so I tried to simplify the design into a pleasing pattern of light and shadow. I moved things around slightly to get the design to work on my canvas.
This painting required a session of about 2 hours on location and then I cleaned it up a bit later in the studio.

Studio Paintings from Plein Air Sketches

I took two of my beach paintings from this post and used them as inspiration for these larger studio pieces.

In "Evening Mist" I changed the spacing between the palms a bit and lowered everything just a little so I could include more mountain in the distance. The larger painting size gave me more room to play around with color and include a few more elements to add to the sense of depth. I really enjoyed painting the effect of the ocean moisture in these pieces.


"Evening Mist", 14 x 18" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$1,300. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner


"Evening Mist", 6 x 8" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$720. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner


The obvious compositional change in the "Hammock, Playa Buena Vista" painting is the removal of the stick coming out of the sand. On site, I decided to use what I saw at the beach in order to have a darker element up close. Something that would help show how the mist off the ocean was affecting the values of everything and setting it all back in space. In the studio painting I wanted to see how the design, and sense of depth, would work without it. Instead, I put some dark brushstrokes and some grasses in the foreground to get some darker notes up front. I am still toying with the idea of maybe laying a small stick on the ground in the lower right foreground. Similar to the one in the plein air piece, but not sticking up in the air.
I had a heck of a time trying to getting accurate subtle color in the photos of the studio pieces. They look better in person and are visually pleasing hanging together.


"Hammock, Playa Buena Vista", 14 x 18" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$1,300. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner


"Hammock, Playa Buena Vista", 8 x 10" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$500. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

Two recent street scenes

These are two recent paintings of streets here in San Miguel.
I have been working on some other paintings that are not ready to photograph yet, so I thought I would put these up.
The top one is a studio painting from a few weeks ago and the bottom one was done on location back in March.



"View from Top of Correo", 18 x 24" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
$2,300. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner




"Aldama View, March '09", 14 x 11" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009
Private Collection

New painting of a roadside stand

I have been working on this painting for a few days. This is one of the many roadside stands near the coast that sell fruit, cold cocos, tamarind and other tropical treats. The yellow posts in this one with the coconuts hanging really attracted me to this one. Getting the value and the intensity of the yellow in light and in shadow just right was tough. I ended up printing the painting in progress out in black and white just so I could see the value correctly.
I'm working on a title for this one still.
Speaking of titles, Christine is doing a poll over on her blog about titles of paintings. Take a minute to go vote if you have not already. The poll will be closing soon.



18" x 24", oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2009
$2,300. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner


Below are a few details.

Paintings from the Beach

We took a quick trip down to the beach last week. Schools were closed in Mexico because of the flu scare and we wanted to get out of town for a while. The drive down to Playa Buena Vista, in the state of Guerrero, is about 6 hrs. Some friends of ours have a small house there that they let us borrow. I took my paint box and was able to sneak in a little painting time when I was not swimming, relaxing, or keeping an eye on the kids while we were on the beach, ( we took Erin's two cousins with us too ). The beach is isolated and we the only ones there most of the time. Needless to say, we had a great time.
Here is a photo of the beach and below are three paintings. The forth was pretty unworthy of posting. The light changed on me too quickly and I abandoned it.



Playa Buena Vista



"Hammock, Playa Buena Vista", 8" x 10" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009

All of the moisture in the air inspired this view looking down the beach. The hammock under the palapa gives that nice lazy day feel. This one might get turned into a larger painting too. I'd like to have more room to play around with that color. You can only squeeze so much into a small painting.



"Morning Palms", 6" x 8" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009

This is the view looking toward the beach from Anthony and Laura's house. The sun was coming up behind me and it cast a nice light on the palms. I tried to simplify the foliage but at the same time wanted it all to line up in the right spot. A tough one for a 6"x8" panel.



"Evening Mist", 6" x 8" oil, Frank Gardner © 2009

There was a lot of moisture rolling off the beach and I loved the variety of cool colors looking back into the jungle in shadow.
This could make a nice larger painting. I can imagine how it would look if it were bigger and I moved a few things just a bit.

Finished "Evening on Garita"

Here is the finished painting from the last post.
I think adding the wires helped.
The colors work for me in this one, and I don't think that I picked at it too much. It still has a nice loose feel.



"Evening on Garita", 11" x 14" oil on board, Frank Gardner © 2009
$950. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner

new work in progress

It's been a week since I last posted something.
Thanks for reminding me Christine.
I have been working in the studio this week. Schools are closed because of the flu scare and we have been trying to stay in the house.
This is what I was up to today. It is a street that I have recently painted, but a different design. I like the way the light and color is coming along in this one. There are some wires that I want to add in tomorrow, and a few more things. I am going to try and not pick at it too much.



Work In Progress 11" x 14", Frank Gardner © 2009

An adjusted plein air painting

This is a painting that I started when Jerome was down visiting last month. We were painting the church and field with some cows in it. The cows kept moving around really really fast. I tried to catch at least the gestures on the spot. I was not real successful with all three of the cows.
It looked rather busy and unfocused when I got it back to the studio, so I reworked it a bit. I decided to take out two of the cows and add the guy who was spreading out these dried corn stalks for the cows. It is a smart way to get the fertilizer where he wants it. He put piles of the stalks here and there in his field and the cows did all the work.


"Feed for the Cows", 11" x 14" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2009
$950. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner



As it came home from the field , © 2009



The scene