new one just started, from Pacific Grove....

This is a large one, 30 x 40 I think. I am enjoying the use of color and am somewhat letting the design come along as I go. I have so many pics from my trip to Pacific Grove last November to study with Ovanes Berberian. He really stressed the use of "juicy color". That doesn't mean that he didn't use grays. I think the use of grays in his work is his genius. This day was overcast, but with some clearing later in the morning. I wanted to start with plenty of color though, and then decide how much to leave in. I still have some major decisions to make here, one being how much light to bring into it. That is the challenge with the cloudy weather. The rocks on the right had some light on them, so I will try to keep the water beyond them nice and rich in color. The rocks on the left are darker, so the water beyond will be lighter. At least that is my thinking right now.
I took the picture because I needed to break away from it for a while, and see it from another viewpoint. Most of the time when I take a photograph at first glance I will see glaring problem. It is the same concept as using a mirror. Just taking a break works well too.
I'm excited to take another trip with a friend of mine next weekend to paint in this area again plein air. I fell in love with the Pacific Grove. It is a little sleepy town near Monterey with an amazing coastline walking distance from the little hotels in the area. Much less expensive than Carmel, but close enough to drop in for some gallery visits and shopping. I'll come back with some painting studies for some more larger pieces. I just got some new 36 x 48 inch canvases so here goes!
Have a nice Valentine's Day weekend.....

still working on this one...

final after some friendly suggestions...

View from Aurel, Provence

This painting was kinda fun. An exercise in atmospheric perspective to be sure, but I couldn't get away with using a lot of cool colors while doing it. I'm not sure it is really done yet. Do you see anything that would help me finish it up? A lot of the time I take photos so I can see the problems with a painting. I'd appreciate your suggestions. I need to finish it up and get it to a show in about a week....

Frank Ordaz Studio & Gallery in Auburn CA

 

Ordaz Gallery 

530-906-0716
843 Lincoln Way
Auburn Ca 95603

I've recently added a few pieces to Ordaz Gallery -a great little gallery with a lot of Frank's beautiful works and a few other artists as well. I'll have my artwork there for a couple of months and there is plenty more to see and enjoy in the gallery as well as the little town of Auburn. Read more about Frank below and stop by and enjoy!

 

Auburn Journal 2010
by Michael Kirby
 
“I enjoy people. If you’re going to be good at portraits, you have to like people,” said artist Frank Ordaz.
Ordaz recently moved into a studio space he shares with Mike Maydak on Lincoln Way. He is a friendly and easygoing guy, quirky, talkative and engaging.
He is excited by the energy of the Downtown scene, and not just the art, but the people and businesses.
Having spent the last few years working out of a studio in his home in Auburn doing mostly commissioned work, Ordaz is jazzed about being out in town.
He is a fine art portrait painter and illustrator. Working in oils, Ordaz has the talent to capture a subject’s personality in his work and shares time, talking with every person he paints, waiting for the hint, the secret that is always revealed in time that exposes their inner person, that vulnerability and insight into his subject that Ordaz wants to capture.
The 53 year-old Ordaz was raised in East Los Angeles by creative and hard-working parents and admits that as a child art was a retreat for him.
He often spent many hours in his room to avoid the harshness of his neighborhood’s environment.
“I was small and skinny and someone was always messing with me. With my art I could create my own world, I could control it. It was safe and beautiful,” he said.
From age 10 Ordaz studied with famed California master artist Theodore Lukits, a renowned art instructor.
Ordaz attended the University of Southern California on an art scholarship. After two years he then transferred to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena to study illustration.
Upon graduation in 1980 Ordaz was highly recommended for a job with Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), working for filmmaker George Lucas in Northern California. There Ordaz did background matte paintings for specialized movie production effects and worked on films like “ET”, “The Wrath of Khan”, “Return of the Jedi” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, rubbing shoulders with well-known actors, musicians, directors and working with a talented production staff.
Ordaz even had a small bit part in Indiana Jones. He won an Emmy for his work as part of a team of artists working on the 1985 television movie, “Ewok — The Battle of Endor.”
Leaving movie work, and self-employed, his award-winning paintings and illustrations have been used in a line of Christian books, professional sports posters, specialty greeting cards and even a line of jigsaw puzzles.
Ordaz produced a painting that the George W. Bush White House used for their Easter egg hunt. Ordaz’s painting was used on the invitations, official program, posters and tickets for the annual event. Ordaz and his family were invited to the egg hunt, met and spent time with the first family.
He is currently involved in a portrait project for the U.S. Air Force, and teaching painting classes for children and adults along with painting portraits for clients out of his new studio Downtown.
“I feel this is what I’m supposed to be doing now, and where I’m supposed to be,” Ordaz said. Ordaz lives in Auburn with his wife and family.

 Ordaz Gallery opened in 2010 by artist Frank Ordaz. He has a very informative and entertaining blog at http://frankordaz.blogspot.com