An interview with portrait painter Frank Ordaz

Portrait painter Frank Ordaz in his Auburn, California studio.

Welcome to another episode

We are jumping back into an interview in progress with portrait painter Frank Ordaz. What jumped out at me during part 2 of this interview is the positive mindset Frank maintains, especially when he takes on new challenges. He assumes success, an it looks like his strategy is one we can all learn from.

I’m repeating Frank’s bio here for your convenience, but if you haven’t yet listened to part 1, you may want to go back and listen to that first. You can find it at passionatepainterpodcast.com/episode39.

BIO
Frank P. Ordaz grew up in Southern California . At the age of 12 he studied with portrait artist Theodore N. Lukits.

It was at the Lukits academy that Frank was introduced to the academic method of painting from plaster casts and from life. He was later mentored by landscape painter Sam Hyde Harris who was noted for his tonal quality of light.

Frank attended the University of Southern California and graduated from the Art Center College of Design in 1980. He began painting for George Lucas’s Special Effects Company Industrial Light and Magic where he worked on such Oscar winning motion pictures as E.T. and Return of the Jedi .

In 1986 he was recognized with an Emmy for his matte paintings in the Ewok Movie. His painting style is heavily influenced by his time working on cinematic movie features. He has continued the tradition of early California Artists in painting in the field and learning firsthand the qualities and mysteries of Light. Frank also has a passion for Art History and the artists place in the continued evolution of painting Styles. His paintings are a celebration of life and the profound influence of light in animating our emotions and responses to our environment.

Painting, for Ordaz, has a spiritual and philosophical component . His portrait faces explore the identities of his subjects trying to go beyond the surface of skin and his landscapes are metaphors for the vastness of space that is ever changing yet captured and bound in a painting. His work harkens back to the Romantic Movement where the response is more than intellectual, but something that smacks you in the gut; where paint is translated to rock or flesh or sky. What a triumph of human invention is painting!

CONTACT FRANK:
Email:
 ursusgeewiz@gmail.com
Website: https://Ordazart.com
Facebook (optional): https://www.facebook.com/frankordazart
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/FrankOrdaz7
Studio Address:843 Lincoln Way , Auburn, Ca, 95603, United States