Frank Gardner -- Artist

Frank Gardner became captivated by the central Mexican mountain town of San Miguel de Allende when he visited there as a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. After graduating in 1986, he re-visited Mexico and eventually moved there full-time.

He finds colorful subjects for both plein air and studio paintings in the city and countryside, the people and animals. His blog post for today describes the oil painting workshop he is offering next year in March (something for us snowbound painters to think about). He also makes regular painting trips to Maine and Cape Cod.

"A controlled chaos or loose spontaneity is my favored look, although each color and stroke is well thought out and carefully placed. The paint application is important to me. It is a very personal facet of my work. An artists brushwork and paint handling is what sets their work apart from another artist’s interpretation of the same view. It is as unique as a fingerprint and cannot be copied. I not only brush paint on, but lift it off, or smear it with a finger or paint rag. It is often the lifting off of the paint that gives the look I am after."