About the Artist

 

 

For Life is a Miracle and the ability to communicate that Miracle is a Life's Vocation.

 

     My story really starts in East L.A. My bedroom was in our small living room and I was awakened one evening to shouts below our house. As I looked out I saw two men fighting with chains. I was shocked and repelled by my environment. Our backyard was dusty dirt with a tree that bore no fruit. My most vivid escape was when I saw a vine flower and I remember bees swarming around the petals getting drunk on pollen. It was then that I  too wanted to feast on something beautiful and nourishing. If I was to sit on a shrink's couch I would say that Art probably saved my Life and gave me a traditional healthy escape from the ugliness that I saw. I remember someone giving me a set of casein paints when I was 10 because they saw me drawing all the time with cheap pencils. I painted my mother looking into a mirror while touching her face as she noticed her  wrinkles. People made a fuss about it when I entered the painting in a local show. If not for the encouragement of so many people like my parents who believed in me, I would probably be a machinist like my father. Painting is really the only passion that ever made me want to get out of bed and do something significant and meaningful. I studied with a portrait master during my teens and one day I met an old salty California Plein Air painter named Sam Hyde Harris.When I stepped into his darkened living room he was seated on a worn sunken couch with a stick of tobacco in his mouth .  Behind him hung a Saturday Evening Post original oil painting  by Norman Rockwell. It was signed to my good friend Sam. It filled me with a sense of calling and purpose, and I  was hooked and I was all in as an artist. 

 

 

Artist Spotlight - Frank Ordaz

Date: 1/11/2017

 

When did you first realize that you wanted to become an artist?

Norman Rockwell famously said don’t be so enamored with the truth that the story is boring. So in that spirit, here goes. 

 

     I grew up in East LA and it’s a pretty poor section of that metropolis. I lived in an environment that was the polar opposite of a Thomas Kincaid painting. I remember looking out my window late one evening to see two men fighting with each other in the middle of the street with chains as weapons.I’ve told this story before and it sounds like it’s not true, but it is. But a burst of Light occurred with a bougainvillea bush in our property. It’s a plant with colorful leaf-like petals and they thrive is southern California. We had one in our side yard and I remember looking at that, it’s a very vivid memory, and all these bees were buzzing around this bush. It was a picture of Life in a sea of concrete , dirt and violence. Our backyard was essentially brown dirt and a dead fruit tree. My idea of being rich, we’re talking the mind of a seven year old, was having green grass in your yard. We moved to another part of LA County that was a wee bit nicer, but we still didn’t have a green lawn. My idea of rich was someone that had green grass in their front and back yard. So, I was really taken with the beauty of this bougainvillea in the midst of all the ugliness. I wanted to pursue a life that highlighted that swirling energy of Life. 

 

     When you’re a poor kid your ticket out of poverty is usually Sports, Education or the Arts.. My dad was a semi pro boxer, but I wasn’t a strong kid and so I started getting into drawing and thought that if I could keep drawing I could make it in the world. I was fortunate enough to have a father who appreciated art and valued the arts. My mom did too, and it was a real gift from God. My parents have always supported me. I’ve heard other artists complain that their family argued against a career in Art but I never heard this from my parents. I was also told by them that I had a gift from God and that I should pursue and hone my talent. By the time I was 7, 8 or 9, I had already decided in my head that I was going to pursue art. I‘ve been persevering and abiding ever since. 

 

     My dad in many ways was like the Beach Boys’ father. He tried to help me whenever he could, taking me and my drawings to local art shows and promoting me. Soon enough people started noticing my work because my dad kept entering it for me. I was very shy. When I was 11 or 12, the local news station ran a feature story about a little 12 year old Mexican boy trying to make it as an artist. Then I got a little write up in the local newspaper, and that encouraged me to pursue my art career. I’ve had this single focused mindset since I was 10 years old. 

Here’s something my dad recently told me. I did a project for the White House for First Lady Laura Bush back in 2006. I went to the White House as a guest of the president and I remember talking to my dad about it and he said he never would have believed that he would have a son that got to visit the president of the United States. He also told me that when he was a young boy in Guadalajara Mexico , he wanted to become an artist. He recalled that one day his mother sent him out for groceries and instead of getting them he spent the whole time looking at a local artist’s work. He felt God had blessed him with an artistic son who had fulfilled that desire. Sometimes as a parent you have a desire that you can’t make true and your children can somehow realize those dreams for you. My dad is way out there in terms of loving art. I was just fortunate to have a dad who loved art and when he saw he had a child that had a gift, he went out of his way to help me. What grace. At the age of 12 he found me a teacher in LA. He couldn’t afford the lessons so he did handiwork for this teacher for 5 years to pay for my lessons. 

 Because of that support I could realize and see myself as a successful artist. I am blessed by having their selfless commitment towards my career.

 

When did you first pursue your art career full time?

 

     I’ve been doing art professionally since I was 21, that’s 39 years making a living as an artist. I’ve kind of lived my life out in stages. My dad wanted me to train as a representational artist, and there were two artists who taught this in LA at the time. One was Sergei Bongart and the other was Theodore Lukits, and so I started studying with Lukits. When I went to high school I was mentored by Sam Hyde Harris, who filled me with stories of Norman Rockwell (they were friends), and he made me dream. He made me see the possibilities of being an artist . He let me sweep around his art studio in Alhambra Ca. as a part time job. Stories have power. Lukits had been a successful portrait artist to Hollywood Movie Stars. He was friends with actors like Edward G. Robinson and he filled me up with those stories of adventures with them. I also saw how he worked with clients in selling his artwork. I was a part of that art culture scene since I was a teen, and I saw how emotionally fickle this fine art business can be ( and still is ). My family was also going through some turbulent times and so I rebelled at the fine art career. That’s why I went to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena Ca.. I was looking for structure and I also wanted to be taught by professional Commercial artists who weren’t Fine Art teachers. I was exposed to a lot of great art and the competition was intense. It really opened my eyes.

 

     At around this time I saw Star Wars and really wanted to work on that film and be apart of the that culture. I love movies.Then Lucasfilm called me out of the blue saying that they got my name from Art Center. They wanted to interview me and after the interview process I was selected to be the third artist, which was a position that they had just created. I worked on films such as ET, Star Trek, and Return of the Jedi  painting matte backgrounds. I never did backgrounds before but I told them that I could do it (one of the things I learned from my dad was how to be bold… it’s a boxer thing). They soon realized that I didn’t know how to do backgrounds, but they liked me and gave me work that I could do. I learned quick.

 

     In the late eighties I got married to Jana and started an Illustration career. I made a good living doing that, illustrating movie posters and books and raising a family in Santa Rosa. As a matter of fact my wife sent one of my illustrated Children’s book to the White House and they loved my work and asked me to be the main artist for the 2006 Easter Egg Roll. My wife, by the way, has been amazing. She has given me 110% support. That is so important with this fickle lifestyle.

 

     Now I always wanted to go back to my first love which was fine art, but hadn’t because of my experiences with how fickle people were in the fine art world in LA at the time. As a young man, I felt that the collector types and the people who would purchase art were largely socialites and hung around art to feel cultured. At least this was my take as a 15 year old meeting these people at exhibitions. Fast forward to about 7 years ago and I have changed and evolved in how I approach the buyers of my work. I’ve always had the mindset of a fine artist, although I trained to be a commercial artist to make a living. Now I have the business sense of a commercial artist and I’m back into and passionate about fine art, and now have that mindset to work in this world to sell my art to people. It’s me who has become more emotionally mature to handle this Lifestyle.

 

     When I was at Lucasfilm doing background art I was approached by a gallery to do landscapes and at the time I thought that was boring. I was meeting moving stars at the time. You kind of have to live a bit to learn your place in the world, and my life was pretty superficial when I was in my twenties. I was pretty immature, so much so that I didn’t get married until I was thirty. Now having lived a little, married to Jana for 28 years with two grown boys Isaac and David, I now having something to say…. especially when your son narrowly escapes death at birth.  My background in cinema has had an impact on my art, for example in the lighting that I use. There are many young artists who are technically very good. What do they paint? Naked Girls, because that’s where their head is at. Can you blame them?… It’s aesthetically beautiful, but superficial if that’s all you produce. I want to seek out deeper issues and paths in my work. Beauty is what you value as being sacred for your life. My experiences inform everything that I do now. When I paint people I tag along the story of their life. I’m not looking for someone who is just physically beautiful, I’m looking for an inner quality, a spark of inner beauty, people I can make connections with. For example, I recently painted “Duffy”. He is a friend of mine who’s very important to me. He’s a falconer, and worked on the movie The Falcon and the Snowman. He was one of the first internet millionaires, funded an orphanage, he’s an ordained pastor, and a biologist. A meet a lot of very interesting people like that. My Portraits are a vehicle to experience people. A lot of people ask me if I miss being around the likes of George Lucas or Steven Spielberg, and I tell them no. Because they are so visually noticed, they get a fame that they in many ways can’t control. There’s something to be said about anonymity. I don’t miss it because a lot of them are pretty unhappy and the attention is like a drug, because when you have it it’s great and when you don’t it’s awful. These days my art is about celebrating where I live and those special people with interesting stories. Life is hard and how we each manage it is what I find interesting to paint.

 

To what do you attribute your success?

 

     There’s a spiritual as well as a secular component. On the secular side, success is about showing up on time, working however many hours you’re expected to work, and doing what is expected from you. Working at Lucasfilm taught me that. When I was 20 years old I got a job painting six illustrations for Coors Brewing Company. I really wasn’t very disciplined. I spent a lot of time goofing off after I got paid and went broke. Lucasfilm gave me the discipline. The fine arts are like the cinema, where you can’t believe all the press. I Come from a place where God has given me a talent that needs to be nurtured. You have to develop your talent and work at it. Consistently pursue challenges. Part of being successful is trusting who you are and being responsible for your giftings. You can’t just be influenced by competitors. You must remain authentic to your calling. For example, you have Richard Schmidt and in the work of a lot of young artists you can see his influence in their art. I never wanted that to be so obvious in my art. I’m still in the process of trying to be honest to my own unique vision. I think it’s so much harder trying to find your own unique voice. For example, there are so many guitar players out there, but when you hear Carlos Santana you know it’s him. It’s spirit, their uniqueness and feelings get expressed through that vehicle. That’s what I’m trying to do in my painting. It’s scary and not safe because I’m trying to chart my own path, but it’s also exciting.  Win, lose or draw I’m doing it on my own terms.

 

     I’ve been doing some southwest images lately. I did my DNA and it turns out that I’m 55% Native American. My mom grew up on a farm in New Mexico. My grandfather spoke Navajo. My grandmother sewed dresses for Navajo Women. Her family adorned themselves in turquoise bolos and necklaces. That romantic past haunted me as we traveled there from LA to Bernallio in the sixties. In many ways I’m revisiting that past in myself because that’s a part of who I am. That’s part of my story. That’s part of my personal mythology. My mom would tell me stories about her dad dancing with the Navajos during their Pow Wows..How great is that? So now when I paint these people, It feels like I’m coming home and finishing the circle. If feels right and I feel spiritually connected. There’s enough ugliness and chaos in the world. Who needs an emphasis on that?… I aim to bring back a legacy of blessing .The importance of how Life truly is a gift. My experience and celebration of that is important now. 

 

     This is so different from what I was attracted to in my twenties. I was focused on death and decay back then. I was speaking to an artist who painted angst ala Lucien Freud, basically broken human beings. The way it was presented in this gallery was depressing and despairing. There was no hope in the suffering. I came out feeling death, not life. I want my art to express the importance of abundant life in enduring suffering while still remaining hopeful. I want my art to express a moment in time that really means something to not only me but shares in the connectedness of mutual experience. God told the Israelites to build a monument after He delivered them to help them remember the goodness of what he had done. Art and painting is a freezing of time that helps remind people that this moment has meaning and purpose and that Life has meaning and purpose.

 

     I’ve sold to a lot of interesting business men, and one of my collectors once rafted down the Colorado River. He is always the first one to want to buy my paintings of the Grand Canyon. It reminds him how important that moment of rafting down the Colorado River was for him and how that moment changed his life for the better. Kierkegaard speaks of the Knight of Faith versus the Knight of resignation. The night of resignation is doing the things that are expected of you in a rational world. The Knight of faith is taking the risk of doing something different as a result of a Calling. The artist in many ways does something very foolish on the surface, choosing a career that’s at the whim of the art collector. That monument that the Israelites built represents the importance of that moment when you take that leap of faith of Trust. The artist like the rest of humanity goes through levels of suffering to keep his art nurtured . It is so easy to quit. But when you do the risky, unexpected thing , you live out your dream by Faith, hopeful that all the love that’s been poured out will show.. Yes and Amen. Success in part is endurance  that builds character and a tough skin.

 

If you had it all to do over again, what would you do differently?

 

     Somebody asked me this question in another interview. I think I answered that  everything for better or worse has made me what I am. That was too convenient an answer. Well, would I have changed working at Lucasfilm? No way, that was a dream job. When I moved to Northern California I was on my own. I wish I had handled that experience with more grace and humility. I was kind of figuring things out on my own. I really needed an attitude adjustment. That’s the only thing I would have changed. I wouldn’t change anything about my fine art career. Maybe I wish I could have made some better business decisions. A good example is these documentaries about musicians who always say they wish they had paid better attention to their contracts. I wish I had been a better steward of my money and the business angle. All artists need to understand that this is a business. It’s one of the reasons that I use FASO, to help me with that side of things. I also wish I had learned to forgive sooner. Everyone has an opinion of your work, and if they don’t like your work it’s easy to get upset. I wish I had had more tenderness in my youth.

 

What advice would you give artists looking to make art a full time career?

 

     I’m still trying to make it a full time career. Hah! There are still years when I wonder how I made it through that year. You need to have a really good support system. You need to have family members on board. You have to have a solid foundation of confidence in your ability, strength of mind and spirit, and there will always be successes which you should celebrate and failures that you should use to work harder and get better. Find a good location for your work and where you want to be. I work out of my studio here in downtown Auburn Ca.. I like to be open to people walking into my studio. I find that I get valuable insights and critiques and sometimes I get worthless feedback. I find it all valuable. Also, don’t get irritated when people talk to you when you’re painting. I remember going to a plein air event and when I started talking to another artist the artist painting barked at us to keep quiet. An artist friend of mine told me to learn the art of painting and talking. I’ve learned that and it’s been invaluable to me and it’s helped me connect with future collectors. They really enjoy seeing how the sausage gets made. Find a subject that you really love. Not just that thing that will sell, but something you’re passionate about. Find your color palette and your mood so when someone sees your work they recognize that it’s you. Use the best materials that you can use. Use good brushes, not cheap brushes. Go outside and paint live. Interact with people. And experience life. Don’t paint just from photographs, also paint from your imagination, but anchor it in reality. Also, find a mentor and apprentice under them if possible. Become a master at your craft but don’t mistake technical excellence for inspiration. What do you feel and think about something? I want to see that! 

 

Which artists influenced you the most? 

 

     There’s a ton, and what’s interesting is that there’s a ton because at each phase a certain artist has influenced me and opened my eyes and heart to new possibilities. I liked Caravaggio, Michelangelo and Norman Rockwell when I was a kid. I also like Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and used to love that Hot Rod Kitch. That edgy pop approach has always really influenced me and still shows up in my work. Then when I got to art school it was artists like Wayne Thiebaud, Chuck Close, and illustrators like Wilson McLean. Then when I got hired at Lucasfilm, I was attracted to the works of Albert Whitlock and Albert Bierdstadt. Now, its painters like Richard Schmidt , and John Asaro and Don Hatfield who studied with Sergei Bongart.. I love Frank Tenny Johnson and John Singer Sargent and Sarolla. I also like Thomas Hart Benton and Thomas Eakins and Daniel Garber. And then I’ve liked Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet. I also like the work of Ernest Martin Hennings, Nicolai Fechin and Ivan Kramskoi. He’s a Russian itinerant who painted the Russian people. He made a big deal of painting common people. The other big influences have been the Californian plein air painters like Granville Redmond, Edgar Payne, and Maynard Dixon. I like a lot of different art. I could go on and on… you see, I am my father’s son.

 

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

 

     Be bold and courageous. Fear not. Also, a sense of adventure has always been a big help to me. People ask me to do things all the time, including people I’ve just met, and they are surprised when they ask me to go on an adventure and I say yes. Painting adventures and this or that. Just be open to new experiences as opposed to being closed off. That’s something I try to live by. Travel to Europe and see the great Art Museums. It will change and inspire you that we are continuing a great and wonderful tradition..I think that’s important too. Also, what will be the legacy that I will leave behind for not only my children but for Society as a whole. Just like that Bougainvillea bush, I want to give off life and hope…. by the grace of God go I.

 

 

 

Here's the skinny. I knew I was an artist by the time I was 7 years old. I was "all in" to use a poker term and by the time I was 12 I was studying with a portrait master by the name of Theodore N. Lukits in Los Angeles.

 

 

 

I was also mentored by notable California Plein Air artist Sam Hyde Harris who was friends with Norman Rockwell. I grew up with stories by 2 men who were born in the 1800's. By the time I graduated Art Center College of Design in Pasadena I was already painting for the movie industry and was hired by George Lucas's company ILM. My first assignment was to paint a large establishing shot for the motion picture ET. Director Steven Spielberg liked it and my career took off. I had the wonderful opportunity to work on many well known and successful oscar winning movies as a matte painter. The most universally known was Return of the Jedi. The movie contained over 40 matte paintings. The definitive book to see is "The Making of Return of the Jedi" by J.W. Rinzler. Along the way I was awarded an Emmy for my contribution to the " Ewok Movie". The experience at Lucasfilm taught me the importance of deadlines and painting everyday at a high level of consistency.

 

 

 

 

 

 Restless as an artist, I went on to start a new career as an illustrator in 1986. During a span of over 20 years I worked on movie posters , magazine illustrations , gift merchandising , book covers ( over 100 ) , advertising campaigns and finally illustrating children's books. One of the highlights was winning the ECPA Gold Medal for illustrating the book " The Very First Christmas". Also , as a result of illustrating the book " Josie's Gift" I caught the attention of First Lady Laura Bush and I was asked to be the featured artist for the 2006 White House Easter Egg Roll. Years of professionalism all came in handy as I designed the Poster , the graphics on the Easter Egg, as well as designing the art for the Hats and Aprons.

 

 

 

Finally in 2011 I returned to my first love of painting in oils. Stepping out in faith I opened the Ordaz Gallery in Auburn ,CA which featured my Fine Art Landscapes and portraits. Within a short time I attracted the attention of local collectors with some owning as many as 8 of my oil paintings. I was asked to paint portraits , teach Plein Air painting and lecture on Art throughout the greater Sacramento Area as well as Ashland Ore. Also , I gathered a following of loyal Bay area collectors after I participated in the Tiburon Arts and Crafts Faire. I have been a regular artist to date. Then one day in 2013 a fellow artist came into the Studio and taken with my Plein Air painting suggested that I enter " The Great California Paint Out" hosted by the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis. I won Best in Show. In short order, I was juried into membership of the California Art Club and have participated in their Gold Medal Show where I sold my first entry. 2014 was a busy year. As my work became noticed, I was invited into several group shows and this year I was juried into the prestigious Crocker Kingsley Show curated by Gregory Kondos. Currently, I show at my venue and the John Natsoulas Gallery where I will have a One Man Show  in late 2015.

 

 I never thought the "Artist Statement " was a big deal until I had to find my voice as an artist. Certain subject matter and places attract me over and over again . Why? And who and what are my influences and how has that shaped my vision and voice. For one, growing up in East L.A. I dreamed of far away places across America and I wanted to travel and experience the romance of the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. My escape was television, especially movies that were about exotic places. My earliest recollection was watching " The Lost Horizon" and being transfixed by the lure of the Himalayas and the adventure to other lands and peoples. When I paint landscapes,  I am looking to find the essence and the spiritual qualities of popular American vistas. Working at Lucasfilm shaped my vision in capturing a larger than life cinematic moment in a landscape. There is a challenge in painting popular vistas. Since many people have seen the same location, there is a shared reality in memory of the condition of Light and Space. Above all, I want to capture the elusive quality of light .

 

email me at [email protected]  for questions.... thanks for taking the time to read this far! Frank or as my relatives call me Panchito.

 

 

 

 

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 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.

 

 

Thanks to David Darrow for the Studio picture at the top of the page.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

2013- Winner of the Great California Paint Out, John Natsoulas Gallery

2014- 15 Group Show , Invitational, Temp Gallery , Sacramento Ca

          -Gold Medal Show, California Art Club , Juried, Autry Museum , Glendale Ca

          -Quintessential California, California Art Club , Juried, Santa Paula Art Museum, Santa Paula Ca

          -13th Annual California Landscape Painters , John Natsoulas Gallery , Davis Ca

          -"Miniatures En Plein Air" California Art Club, Juried , Old Mill Gallery , Pasadena

          - "Defining Character" Invitational, Robert T. Matsui gallery -