Frank Ordaz: 0:00

I give the analogy when I teach people it's like, I used to be very much in athletics and sports, if you're, if you're at the plate, and there's that 90 mile per hour, fastball coming at you, any of You're overthinking it, and you've lost your confidence, but you can't hit this guy, you're gonna strike out. So you have to be extremely confident and and get things and all the tools that you have otherwise, this is a highly competitive field, extremely competitive field. And so if your giftings are there, then why fight it, why try to be something else, especially if you're starting out? It's really easy just to be overwhelmed and awed by somebody who's really good at their field, especially they're very successful. It's like, well, now I have to do that. Well, maybe, if that's your leaning, but if it's not your leaning, you're in for a host of heartbreaks, because it's just not. You're you're leaning.

Laura Arango Baier: 0:55

Welcome to the BoldBrush show, where we believe that fortune favors the bold brush. My name is Laura Arango Baier, and I'm your host. For those of you who are new to the podcast. We are a podcast that covers art marketing techniques, and all sorts of business tips specifically to help artists learn to better sell their work. We interview artists at all stages of their careers as well as others who are in careers tied to the art world in order to hear their advice and insights. On today's episode, we sat down with Frank or dots, a fine artist with a deep love of connecting with others through story and through his work. Frank shares with us his personal journey and his personal philosophy on being a complete human being in every aspect of life. He discusses the importance of confidence, believing in your giftings and finding your own artistic voice. He also reflects on his experiences working as an illustrator at George Lucas's studio Industrial Light and Magic, where she worked on such films as Star Wars Return of the Jedi at an Indiana Jones. And he also tells us about the lessons he learned about excellence and continuous improvement. Frank emphasizes the value of community personal connection and creating art that is meaningful and appreciated by others. He also reflects that finding your tribe is easier today, thanks to social media, so you may as well paint what you love. Finally, Frank tells us about all his upcoming shows and events at Broadmoor galleries in Colorado Springs, another at the Hilbert Museum of California art at Chapman University, American narratives and a few others. Welcome Frank to the BoldBrush show. How are you today?

Frank Ordaz: 2:20

I'm doing well. Thank you. How about yourself, Laura,

Laura Arango Baier: 2:24

I'm doing great. I'm excited to chat with you. Because you have a very fascinating history of how you got started, and all of the things you've accomplished. And I really want to dive into that with you. Because I think it is so inspiring. Um, so But before we dive into all of the good stuff about your career and your fascinating life, do you mind telling us a bit about who you are and what you do?

Frank Ordaz: 2:51

A little bit about who I am, well, one follower of Jesus, a husband, of 37 years, father of two grandfather have to and soon to be a three. Love to paint. I love to love my family. I love my community here in Auburn, California. I love living in United States who I am Child of God, I mean, you're talking you're talking to philosophical question, because the more I think about it, you know, who are you, you know, in a relationship to my wife, you know, provider lover, to, to my sons, who am I, you know, probably pain in the ass, you know? What, but they know that I love them. And I've done the best for them, to my grandchildren, you know, oh, he's just, he's a funny little guy on the internet because my grandchildren live in Hawaii. It's all we could see it, you know, through there. And so, as we spoke earlier, you know, my whole idea is just to be a complete, complete human being not just art, but a parent, you know, lover to my wife, you know, a citizen of the community. Read a lot, you know, part of a church, you know, I do a Bible study here, in in in my gallery, and I've met a lot of people in my community. So I'm very active, you know, part of the Auburn Arts Commission on the past. And so when my board of directors of the California art club, and I love to teach when I have the opportunity to and pretty easily pretty busy. But yeah, how's that? How's that for openers?

Laura Arango Baier: 4:41

Yeah, very philosophical opening. Yeah. I read a lot. Yeah, well, no, no, um, if you want to continue, yeah.

Frank Ordaz: 4:53

No, you know, it's like, I just, I mean, I do read art books. I definitely recommend jocks bars. In one of my influences was John Morrison, who was a professor emeritus at Columbia, wrote a book called The abuse and abuse of art. And it was his lectures at the Smithsonian. And I probably read that three or four times and great insights. And he's actually he's, he's quoting Nietzsche. And he goes, the German actually, is the advantages or disadvantages of history. In other words, you can, it things kind of repeat itself, but really don't they only come in new forms. And so he goes, there are disadvantages of doing things, the way that were done in the past, to try to make them apply to today. So he's got all these great chapters of you know, art as religion, art as therapy, art, science, art, as Redeemer art as propaganda, very, very challenging. Thought provoking. Essays on the subject of art.

Laura Arango Baier: 6:04

That sounds like a really good book, I might, I'm gonna have to check it out.

Frank Ordaz: 6:09

Like $2 on Amazon, but out of print for years.

Laura Arango Baier: 6:13

Oh, wow. Okay. Nice. Yeah. Um, but, you know, continuing with the, with talking about art, though, you know, I really wanted to know, you know, since of course, you we have like, the fact that you said, you know, who am I? What am I? And I feel that that's something that really, also touches on art, and how we were saying earlier about, you know, being a full, full human, I wanted to ask you, when, when did you decide to follow the path of the artist? Oh, when I was seven,

Frank Ordaz: 6:46

I totally committed when I was seven years old, I've just kind of like, this is what I want to do. Never a second thought. And the real blessing is I had parents who saw my giftings. And I mean, I've talked to people and they teach art. And I've asked them, How can we never went the direction of being, you know, full time artists and go, Well, my parents said, Well, you should probably have a backup, you know, take classes in business, take something else, you know, go to the university and that sort of thing. And my parents never, my dad never once ever said, you should have a backup because you have a gift from God of a gifting, and you should pursue it. But I also had teachers who said you have a gift, and you should pursue it. So my art teacher used to used to tell me and I studied, I started studying when I was 10. With a with a portrait painter, teacher, and he used to say, you know, faith in God, confidence and abilities have given you and I've always thought because, because once you lose your confidence in this business, it's over. And I give the analogy, when I teach people it's like, I used to be very much in athletics and sports, if you're, if you're at the plate, and there's that 90 mile per hour, fastball coming at, you have any of You're overthinking it, and you've lost your confidence, but you can't hit this guy, you're gonna strike out. So you have to be extremely confident in your giftings and all the tools that you have. Otherwise, this is a highly competitive field, extremely competitive field. And people at the top layer, they're all really good. It's like, it's like guitars for rock bands. There's so many good record guitars, you know, from Jimi Hendrix, to Eddie, Van Halen, and everybody in between. And Athenian. They all have a different styles, but they're all really good. And I can tell you across the line, they're all very confident in their abilities, you know, and they're not self destructive, like, oh my god, I'm not any good. I'm gonna quit, you know, after Phillips and Eddie Van Halen, or, or Jimi Hendrix. It's like don't have a different style. And they believe they believe in their giftings, you know, and you just have to find out kind of where you where you fit. And I'm going to date myself right here, but I remember I'm old enough to remember there was a guy. What was his name? There was well, I can't remember he played the trombone. He did Moonlight Serenade, trombone. Trombone leader. Anyway, he was intimidated by many good, good one. Goodman because he was called the King of Swing, and everybody dance to swing and he realized that no, that's just not me. So he started doing things that are more like a ballots, things like Moonlight Serenade, and remember it afterwards after we're done. But that meant a lot to me. It's kind of like, are some people who are just really good at painting? Animals and horses are people you have to just kind of find where you're at. So I've kind of I've always been attracted to painting people and telling stories. So I've, I've kind of stuck with that. And so that helped me when I became illustrator because a lot of illustrations telling stories, and when you're young, your parents or me we read stories or can to our kids. And so parables or stories, and so that those are those are those are important. So if your giftings are there, then why fight it? Why try to be something else, especially if you're starting out, it's really easy just to be overwhelmed and awed by somebody who's really good at their field, especially, they're very successful. It's like, wow, now I have to do that, well, maybe, if that's your leaning, but if it's not your leaning, you're in for a host of heartbreaks, because it's just not. You're you're leaning, you know, and also along the way, you know, people will tell you, you need people to speak truth yourself. That's another thing about my dad is probably my dad's probably the biggest influence on me, because, you know, I would do something, and he was the type of that would say, Frank, that is so great. It's beautiful. My dad would go by on these little work here, and a little work there. So you know, here's an example. Did you ever see American Idol? Yes. And I watched it early on, they used to have these these kids who didn't make it. And they would sing and they were, well, they were horrible, right. And the judges will say, You're horrible. And the person, you know, auditioning would say, but everybody says, I'm great. Everybody. Everybody says I'm wonderful. They go well, they lie to you. Right? And so I'm very thankful that a lot of my teachers spoke truth to me. were honest with me. And I mean, sports are very truthful, especially if you're, if you're if you're running, let's say 100, yard dash, 100 meter dash, right, you're in your lane. First person, it goes across the line, that guy is the fastest side opinion, the fastest. So hurry, forgot your question

Laura Arango Baier: 12:10

about the path of the artists.

Frank Ordaz: 12:12

Well, that's just part of art. Sometimes when you're painting something and something happens, they're going oh, wow, look at that, then you kind of go that direction. You know, it's kind of interesting little thing. And I meander, so hopefully, you know, I won't confuse you. Now

Laura Arango Baier: 12:28

you're good. I'm always here for the journey that you're taking us down. That

Frank Ordaz: 12:35

this is my son says you go, we're just gonna, it's gonna be kind of like a, you know, a clown show here, you know, where the clouds are driving, you know? Free to get in the car with my son. It's like,

Laura Arango Baier: 12:51

oh, man, yeah, I really liked what you mentioned about, you know, being distracted by things that aren't authentic, right? Like the to you, right? So like, I've that really, you know, we were discussing this before we started recording about how, you know, sometimes we get into a specific type of painting or a specific type of technique, because we think, Oh, this is gonna help me paint better, and it might, but then you also have to have that, I guess that consciousness and that self awareness to say, kind of like the musician you're mentioning, like, this isn't really me. No matter how hard I try to push it, it just, it just doesn't feel right. So I'm gonna go this other direction, which is where my intuition and my inner voice is telling me to go. Which I think that is a very, very important point to make. Maybe for listeners who are either having doubts, or they're getting distracted by, you know, like, social media, and like, oh, so and so's doing this. It looks amazing. I should do it, too. Like, should you do that too, though? Is it really something? Like is it just because you want to? Or is it because it's calling to you? Right? There's like, there's a big difference between those two things.

Frank Ordaz: 14:06

And sometimes it's just good to get out of your system. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good thing. You know, if you're just to use the guitar analogy, you know, try the Van Halen go and I don't think I'm good at that. That's easy. Or I'm gonna go more jazzy Pat Metheny, you know, and play something that's more soulful, more so today.

Laura Arango Baier: 14:29

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is good to try things out for sure. For sure. But then also have that awareness to know if it's working or not, you know, I think that's, yeah, I really love that.

Frank Ordaz: 14:40

A good example, just to keep it the same analogy. It's like color palette. So people use a lot of color people. Some people use a restrained color palette, academically, so we will use the Zorn palette which has its own limitations, but it's also its own strengths. Then you had Nelson show As we put, like every color into his painting, so there's this wide variety, and all these different applications, and you just have to find, through your temperament through things that are attracted to you, what works for you. And I think when especially when you're younger, that's the time to really try and fail. Because you really do learn from your failures. It's like, okay, I'm really not good at that. But I really do like it. And I know, I could probably be good at it. So that's, that's the trick is, is failing, but failing in a good way, in the sense that you know, that you're on a path to, to getting better at it, it's just kind of like when I learned how to ski. You see some young people doing that. So you go, okay, would be falling down a lot. But at some point, I'm not going to fall down as much. And eventually, I'm going to enjoy this because right now, I'm not enjoying this, you know, my head's planted in the snow, it's gold, I'm miserable. But eventually, you'll learn how to do it. And it's like the this is really fun. And that's kind of a learning curve, especially with archery, I'm just not getting this I'm not separating the lights on the dark, I'm not getting the tones, I'm not understanding the light, the directions, it's, it's a lot to take in to be really good at the craft of of making a painting. And whether it's abstract, or whether it's realism, you know, and then of course, every different sensibility has has has its has its rules, active academicians have other roles. And, you know, they do have their own silos like Bucha, rolly Ray looks up to Boudreau and, in fact, I went to a show in San Diego, and it's like, well, wow, look at the body of work is like me. Amazing, right? And I've been a sergeant shows and just like like that, you know, especially really big. Yeah. Well, these are different times, you know what I'm saying? I mean, there's nobody really painting the Sistine Chapel anymore. It's a different culture and a different time.

Laura Arango Baier: 17:12

Yeah. Yeah, it's very interesting, because, you know, historically, art has shifted a lot into more and more secular, which is fine. I mean, now we have a much different way of using art, kind of, like he mentioned earlier with the book that you recommended. And I find that, you know, there, there's still a spiritual side to painting that a lot of people, it's fine. There aren't any spiritual people or painters, that's totally fine. But there is a bit of a, in my opinion, right, because this is how I see my own work, I see it as more of a spiritual thing, because it's the fundamental act of creation. And that also takes, like I mentioned earlier, a lot of self knowledge, a lot of self reflection, reflecting about the world around you. And yeah, it's nice to paint, you know, a certain style and, you know, in a, in a more secular way, let's say in a in a way of, oh, well, this is pretty somebody painted. But then there's also like, another level, which is, I want to paint this because it expresses something about humanity, or it reaches deeper into the why of everything. Which I feel that you know, nowadays, how he said, there's no painting the Sistine Chapel. Yeah, I think there's been a big divide that's occurred. I don't know if it's because of the two World Wars and then Cold War, right. That's happened in the 20th century. That's really divided the art world in that sense. I don't know if that makes sense. Well, you

Frank Ordaz: 18:45

divide came in actually in the Armory Show in New York, and then that's when, you know, a lot of the European paintings came in, and people saw, you know, the modernists And that changed everything in terms of, you know, in terms of our history, but, you know, I do go back a little bit, you know, I do a lot of sacred art, and, and even talking about death, you know, one of my paintings, which I always get requests for around Easter, it's, it's called empty tomb. And usually I get requests from all over the world, literally, can I use your painting for this and this or that, and somebody's put the painting on a coin. And that painting no longer exists. And the reason no longer exists? Because this family bought the painting and they lived in Santa Rosa, and there was this huge fire in Santa Rosa that just wiped out an entire section of Santa Rosa. And this couple who I know they literally just escaped with the clothes on their back. As they were leaving their house, their tires exploded, and the rims were melting. That's how hot it was. And their whole house, burned to the ground. You know, in my painting was is in the house. And so talking about things that are temporary, just imagine just all the pictures of your children, your loved one your parents. Everything's gone. Average. Yeah. So. So I actually I actually lost two paintings of another friend of mine, his house burned down. And he had one of my paintings that paintings gone to it was a painting of, of St. St. Paul. And so yeah, there but there are there markets for everything. You have people who you know, who like sacred art, because you know that people have any commissioned commissioning to do those sort of things. But yeah, you know, and I think I think Western civilization. And Paul Johnson is the author has written about this, and you know, and Jaaxy talks Barza has written about this, too, how Western civilization has kind of lost its, its vigor, it's lost its confidence. It's not just confidence in its belief system in itself. And its in its preeminence in terms of, of knowledge, and its its access to knowledge. So, but these are things these are things that happen, you know, jocks bars, and so there's, there's always kind of returned to primitive primitivism, where people discover new things, and then the vitalization happens again, you know, it's, it's, you know, it's the ying yang. And it's like, it's like the wave, and then it falls and builds again, and crests and falls. And these are cycles, you know, you see the cycles and the economies, you see the cycles within human beings. You know, we're not just always like that, you know, things happen now react to these things. These are these are all part of, of who we are. And that's part of, it's part of who we are, how we, how do we react to, to loss? How do I react to the sports and how do I react to somebody rejecting my work, in fact, my teacher and I had some really good teachers, my teacher gave me this great example, when I was centered about 10. He goes, Frank, it's going to, this is the world you're entering in, if this is what you want to do. It could be somebody listening to an opera, an aria. And there'll be so moved, this is like me, it's like you start weeping. Just go, wow, what is it? Why am I Why am I crying, and then there'll be somebody else. They're not fazed at all. And not only not fazed at all, they have a negative reaction to that. So I turn it off. I don't know. Why are you bothering me with this with this noise? This woman screechie That's the art world. And that's life. And that's part of, you know, of what we've kind of signed up for, right? I have somebody come into my shop and just walk in and walk out. Thank you. Okay. Welcome to how somebody can kind of come in and just like, wow, look at you did these? Yeah, everything in here. Yeah. Wow. Just we'll stay in there. And we'll talk for a while, Hey, have a seat. Because, you know, you could tell chairs in here for people to sit down and love conversation and go do mine. My distracts because now so if I if I wanted to be distracted, if I didn't want to be distracted, I wouldn't be here on the street. Because I just kind of walk in here. So yeah, there's there. i There's a there's a market for everything. Yeah, frankly. That's what I've learned, you know, talking to a gallery owner in Carmel, California. And he's looking for angst, angst, I want angst and my pain. And I'm like, Well, I don't quite do angst. A couple of things might be close to, but he's looking for angst. And he showed me this one painting. And there's like these women hanging literally almost like they're being tortured. Hanging like from meat, cleavers. I'm looking at this just gone. Totally shed that stuff like that. What he did was I just sold that to this, this famous person on TV. You know? I don't like to say who it was, but you know, they're talk show host. And I was like, no way he goes, Yeah, I sold two of them to this to that, but I'm just going right has pretty dark, but goes to show you. It's kind of like you've seen that, that there's that famous painting of Clinton in the blue dress, you know, flip, flipping off. And that person I guarantee he's making a lot of money doing stuff like that, you know what I'm saying? So, art is an expression of who we are. So, you know, as Carl Jung would say, there's the shadow right? You get into darkness, you know, in Christianity, he would say you know, that's Since the Fallen part of man, and so you're able to that same person who could do great things can also do very wicked things. If you have the capacity. That's not even up for debate, you know, human nature, I mean, human existence really showed us that that same person who could be very generous can also be extremely stingy. And that same person can show so much love to let's see, his children would have no problem wiping somebody else who is not related to you. It's, we're complicated or complicated creatures. Yes. Yeah.

Laura Arango Baier: 25:35

And there's a little bit of everything. I mean, it's such a grand spectrum. And, you know, it's I like that you tied into the the art market, you know, being so vast, you know, it's open in that sense that, you know, you can paint almost anything, and I'm sure there's someone out there who will really love whatever it is that, you know, someone decides to do

Frank Ordaz: 25:53

this since I was 10. I've seen him be surprised what people buy. I Syria. So yeah. So when people are struggling, you know, it's like, you know, you'll find them work. You just have to find that market.

Laura Arango Baier: 26:06

And I'll say, yeah, yeah, I'm actually what do you recommend? If someone is painting something, and they really haven't found their market quite yet?

Frank Ordaz: 26:17

Well, I think it's a lot easier now, especially with the internet to find market to find your tribe. That's another way, you know, a mental construct. You have to find your tribe. Like when I graduated Art Center, that was around the time that punk was in full swing. And, and there were artists who I remember this artist really liked his work really edge. His name was Carrie Panther. And he just did all this. And there's another artist who's got like, a documentary. I don't know if you've seen it, it's called a beauty is embarrassing. Have you seen that documentary? No, by William Wright. Gotta check that out. I think it's on. I think it's on Netflix. And when you do find your tribe, like, like I was talking about this guy, Jerry Panther. And William writes in and that documentary called, life is embarrassing. He eventually, just because of the sort of work he was doing, he started doing work for Pee Wee's Playhouse. And this might be before your time. But that was a very well, this guy was one of the guys who created some of the creatures for Pee Wee's Playhouse. Cool. Okay, so you'll eventually find your tribe and you find your market. Like I had this one intern for a while. And eventually, she got into doing tattoos, and just extremely successful tattoo artists now, make a hell lot more money than I am. These guys are making 100 $200,000 tattoos. You don't have to say, Man, that's not my gifting. But she found her tribe. And she found what she really liked. And she found that, you know, it's, I don't like having to make something look real in depth and perspective. You know what I'm saying? It's so why stress and if that's not if that's not your leaning, so it was to work, and it's two dimensional and loved it and she's happy that she's doing great. You see what I'm saying? And so usually, there's, there's always a level of stress, you're gonna you're gonna have stress in everything you do. But you shouldn't be stressing something that you hate to do. That's nice. But of course, you know, like my dad had had to do something he really didn't like to do just because of his economic conditions. And so what he did was he used to drive me to my art teacher selflessly every Saturday if he wanted to give me the advantage he never had. And I always be thankful to my dad for that because it was a selfless act. It's a Christ like actor and even Tony Lear. I didn't feel like doing that all the time. But I wanted you to have something I didn't have. And and so I didn't have much of a let's say the Norman Rockwell grown up around East LA didn't have the Norman Rockwell lifestyle. But when I got older, I wanted to give that to my to my children. So you know, I built a fort, we had an acre of property, you know, swings, and I would literally stop work at three o'clock go out and play with them. You know, some of our biggest joys is you know, we had this huge country road and big field over it and with my kids, you know, we had nine iron hitting golf balls across the street playing croquet in our lawn, playing basketball with I never had that with my dad, but I wanted to give that to my children. And so now that they're older and go, you know, Dad, that was really cool. You did that they Oh, I wanted you to have that because I never had that my dad did what he did, which was drive me to class. And but you know, he wasn't one of those dad who showed up, you know, for watch me play baseball or anything like that he was working. And by the time he came home, he was really, he was really tired. He was a machinist. So yeah, eventually you will be circling back you will, you will find your tribe and you. And that's when you'll be the most content. You know, the worst is when you're kind of forcing yourself to do something you you really don't like. On the other hand, sometimes you'll have to do something in a season, there's always the seasons that you may not like, but you have to make a living, and especially if you're married and have children, you got to provide, you know, and so I tend, I tend to take my responsibilities as a husband and and, and as a father, I always hated that whole Gao Gann story where he, you know, he abandoned his, his wife and his children to go pee, go paint. And I go, Oh, that's sad. I'm not buying into that, you know, and some people do, I'm all into my art. But, you know, I, my temperament is like, God, that sucks for the wife. I really sucks for the kids. You know, I mean, I can't get away. I can't get away from that. And it changes how I look at the man, you know what I'm saying? Plus how we so verbally abusive to go to Van Gogh, you know, just just a bully. Yeah.

Laura Arango Baier: 31:35

But he

Frank Ordaz: 31:36

was not bad. No nice people. But he was a good painter. I mean, he can't take that away from me. He was good at what he what he did. I

Laura Arango Baier: 31:45

BoldBrush We inspire artists to inspire the worlds because creating art creates magic. And the world is currently in desperate need of magic. BoldBrush provides artists with free art marketing, creativity, and business ideas and information. This show is an example. We also offer written resources, articles, and a free monthly art contest open to all visual artists. We believe that fortune favors the bold brush. And if you believe up to sign up completely free, a BoldBrush show.com. That's B O LD BRUSH show.com. The BoldBrush Show is sponsored by FASO. Now, more than ever, it's crucial to have a website when you're an artist, especially if you want to be a professional in your career. Thankfully, with our special link faster.com forward slash podcast, you can make that come true. And also get over 50% off your first year on your artists website. Yes, that's basically the price of 12 lattes in one year, which I think is a really great deal considering that you get sleek and beautiful website templates that are also mobile friendly, e commerce print on demand in certain countries, as well as access to our marketing center that has our brand new art marketing calendar. And the art marketing calendar is something that you won't get with our competitor. The art marketing calendar gives you day by day, step by step guides on what you should be doing today, right now in order to get your artwork out there and seen by the right eyes so that you can make more sales this year. So if you want to change your life and actually meet your sales goal this year, then start now by going to our special link faso.com forward slash podcast. That's s a s o.com. Forward slash podcast. Yeah, I mean, that's that's a that's part of it. You know, like you were saying, There's something for everyone. And I really liked that, you know, you'll find your own tribe one day perspective. Yeah, because you know, it, I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who might be listening, maybe they feel like they're trying to find where they belong, basically. And it takes time, it takes time. But it also takes, you know, like you were saying, you know, putting yourself out there using the internet. meeting people in person, which you were just mentioning how you really love having your studio as a almost like a gallery, so anyone can just walk in, and you can have a conversation and that always, you know, I really love what you mentioned when he said that too, because you know how you've mentioned connection, right? human connection talking to others. It really does expand your world, because there are a lot of people who yes, they look inward too much. And they get like you said too focused on their own problems or on their own things. When in reality, I mean, if they spoke to others, you know, they'd be a little bit more aware of all the things that are going right, not so much other things that are going wrong. Which Yeah, and actually I did want to ask you because you have quite an extensive amount of experience. You worked on. Et you also worked on Indiana Jones and Star Wars. What was that like? Yes. What was that like for you? Because you started out as a fine artist and illustrator then back to fine artist. What was it like for you to work you know in the in George Lucas Industrial Light And that Magic? And how did that affect your subsequent return into fine art?

Frank Ordaz: 35:06

Well, it's a funny story because I always wanted to work on Star Wars. And they actually called me, which was great because one of the guys in the math department, and that's backgrounds in called The Art Center. And that's where George Lucas originally wanted to go. He wanted to go to art center. But when he got an award for a short movie that he made, he got a scholarship to USC, I also wanted to see, so he called Art Center, because at that time was considered, you know, the best art school in Southern California. And so when we talk to the dean, the Dean recommended to people and I was one of the people he recommended, you know, I got the job. And so, at that, at that time, I didn't have I was talented, but I had no work ethic. And so I would make a lot of money and just go to the beach, you know, full rollin girls go broke, and then try to get work again. I mean, just just, no, no, well, I had a work ethic, but it's just kind of like, yeah, you know, Southern California, you know, it taking it easy. So they called me around the time I was kind of going broke, and I done a calendar for Coors beer, and got that sustain sustain me for years, they paid me really well. And illustration paid pays really well. And so what I learned working for George Lucas was painting every day, painting every day, you know, full eight hours, you get to be really good at once you're painting every day, and you're painting these landscapes. And also learn how to accept criticism, and the IRS and to respect the criticism from two of the artists who were definitely better than I was. I was more art centering concept. And the I could do realism. But I could do all these other things, these guys were all kind of doing photo real backgrounds. So I had to work really hard to get up to speed. And so it was, it was a difficult learning, but my temperament is like, I'm gonna do this, you know what I'm saying? You want to you okay, there's this little wording that I use for people, you know, that you want to, you want to eliminate the fun. You want to eliminate fear, you cannot be fearful, you know, fair, he's been totally into me and fearful. I'll tell you, it's some mostly incapacitated thing for an artist, you as unbelief, you got to really believe you can do it. If you can't believe you can, you can do it, you're not going to do it, you know, and be as bitterness. You know, the worst thing for our system be bitter, bitter, because these guys are piling up on me better than I'm not making enough money better. They don't recognize me. Those are the killers. Those are the energy killers. Those are the light killers, fear, unbelief, bitterness, you know, destructive. So he's, I mean, these guys would really work me over because I definitely wasn't at the level they were. But they saw that I had talent. And back then if I didn't have if there was internet, I probably definitely wouldn't got hired because I did. I was all over the place. He saw my portfolio, a little bit of this little bit of that. And what I learned is, when people get to that level, everybody there is at the top of their game, it's really unbelievable to see so many people who are so good at what they do. I mean, it just each take it for granted. They're really good at what they do. You know, and so you just really have to up your game. It's very intimidating if you don't have confidence in your abilities, because and then especially you met all the actors, I met Michael Jackson, the funniest thing Michael Jackson said to us, he goes, if I can paint like you guys, I give up singing and I forgot I said something like, I don't think you'd like the income drop, you know? And so we all these actors, and after a while just kind of got bored and seen all the actors and that sort of thing and then going out to look for a location and working with the director and cameraman It was a wonderful experience because I've always loved film you know, I was I leaned on film even took a film class at USC so one of my dreams was working for Star Wars especially when a friend of mine took me kicking and screaming to see the original Star Wars like yeah, I don't want to see that right you got to see this button I don't think so. Saw it it was like whoa, look at this thing. So really want and so I was a big fan base out there of people that's all they know me from is working on Jedi working on the shots and that sort of thing. But it did teach me how to be confident. Teach me how how to accept criticism because usually after we all would say Film are shots and we'd have our own with couplets called dailies. We'd sit down, literally almost for an hour, just pick paintings apart or pick our shot apart. Why did you do that? Maybe you should move that there. And it's just sometimes for two hours, I'm not so sure. And we're talking really picking up things, because we want it to be excellent. And eventually that becomes your culture is you, you, you do not substitute what's expedient for for excellence? So they had their own little vocabulary there, see, BB could be better. You know, that's another word of saying, keep working on it, you know, see BB. And so, it was a wonderful experience, but I never saw myself, you know, as an employee for life. I always wanted to be the boss, man. I wanted to be the George Lucas. And, and that's kind of the way I was trained and was, you know, one of my mentors, Sam Hyde Harris. Good friends with Norman Rockwell. I mean, he mentored me I take care of his studio. His neighbor was Frank Kenny Johnson. I don't know if you've heard of him. Western Western paint are very big in the western market. He's like, he's like a god. He's like one of the Bucha rose, you know, to that Western market, and did all these Nocturnes if you see these Nocturnes from terminators, they're kind of imitating Frank Tenney Johnson, you know, he's nocturnes, he's famous for that. And so I always, I always was around these people were just very confident. And so and, of course, sometimes copied, go goes in arrogance, and that I was guilty of that, and I was there, he just think you're just the top of the world, which we were because at that time, there was no competition. For Industrial Light Magic was the name of the company. So but it was a wonderful experience, it didn't even it felt like we were just playing with ideas and is having free rein to back then it's, it's different than today. Today, it's all digital. Back then I was in charge of the shot. I was like, like the director of the shot working with my camera, and this is how we're gonna do it. That's how we're gonna stage it. It's not like that anymore. It's all everybody's, some guys do a little digital cloud helpers do a little digital trail personal did the digital building literally, digital people. Everybody's kind of little specialty respective, we get the entire painting. So he just learned how to do the whole thing. So there's a little bit of that cinematic, I still have a love of doing landscapes. And frankly, landscapes are easiest to sell. Because it's like, Oh, that guy doesn't look good, or that mouth doesn't look good. You know, if you don't have the tree, you know, you've got like, a landscape behind you. I mean, who knows if if the branch was that tall or lower, or if it was skinnier or thicker, nobody cares. There. There's a lot of leeway. So, and people always love their love for they've been, you know, they've been to Yosemite, or they've been to San Miguel Hill. beautiful landscape there. They live into the Pacific Ocean or Cabo. They weren't they weren't a painting of that. Remember, I have no problem with that. Because I've gone way past, you know, there's within the artistic community, you know, I say, I'm just thankful to be able to make art. I could be doing something else. So when I have, so I have someone, I have a lady come in here and she tells me, you know, my dog died. And I really loved my dog and I look at your paintings. Can you do a painting of my dog and I go, absolutely. I'll do a painting of your dog. And some gal came in the other day. He said, I don't know if you do this, but I love my husband and his grandparents were born on the rez. And I know he likes this photograph, but it's all scratched up. Can you paint that? Because I know you're really good with portraits, and I like how you paint the pinnacle. Absolutely. So I do. I do a lot of that because it's like I'm part of the community. You know, and I would it would really hurt me to go no, that's not art. I don't copy somebody else's border. You know. I'm being human to human. You know, they they love somebody and they want something that says I value you and I hired this artist because I value you and I want this for you because I I love you. And so being part of that chain, I mean, it's amazing. You know, and so I'm kind of done with the highfalutin part of art, you know, and just, you just got to do that which is for grantor, you know, it's like kind of Ruskin school of thought, you know, paint for greatness and that sort of thing. And there's, there's part of me like, yeah, I want to do something really, really great. But sometimes it's just the little things that are that are really important, you know, I just painting of, of my daughter with my granddaughter, Mike, I'm sorry, my daughter in law with my granddaughter, and very intimate little thing with her with a baby and gave it to them, and they love it. And it's, and they went on a little Emelyn grows up, that's good. That was me with my mommy, see, if you're part of their story, or part of their narrative, you've entered into that, you know, and I have a painting back there. It's called My Brother's Keeper, I have, I had one son where everything went great for him, the kids great runner, the girls loved them, you know, just like a golden child, you know, then I have another boy, where he almost died when he was born, he survived spinal meningitis. And he's had just a lot of challenges with back surgeries, cerebral palsy, just a lot of chat challenges, we've had to cram all seizure right in front of me in a way to see your kid with their, with their eyes, you know, roll back, and I see white, I mean, that'll, that'll blow your mind. So I did a painting called, you know, Brother's Keeper, because, you know, when I die, I want I want this son right there to know, he's got to help this son right there, you know. And so, that painting, that painting is for them, it's like, it's a testament, it's a challenge. It's, it's a vision for them to know, you know, you guys grew up together. And even though you've got your own family, I want you to also think your brother, you know, because when we're gone, we're not gonna be able to take care of them. When he gets real life gets really real. While you, you know, John Lennon said, you know, life is what happens to you while you're making other plans, you know, all these things. Right now, I'm doing a big commission for a college down and painting a portrait of a donor for a college. What I've done is up for sale, you know, I've been here 13 years. And so I'm gonna have to deal with that if somebody somebody buys this building, you know, and, and if not, I'm gonna have to be willing, if the, if they raise my rent, I'm gonna have to mean I'll do that for several months until I finish my projects, but this is life, these are these, these changes? How are you going to deal with the change, sees that exposes your temperament and exposes, you know, as an artist that I will water? Well, why is this happening to me? Well, it's happened a lot of people you know, so again, that's part of the bitterness thing, you don't want to get better about it. It's like, you know, why me? That sort of thing. So, you know, again, it's to help enrich somebody's life. Because life is difficult life, I believe is worth is worth living. It is a thing of life. I know, some people think of death, but I think a lot, a lot more life, especially now as I'm getting older. You know, there's definitely mortality, but I think of more life, oh, I want to eat the right foods, you know, I just got my hearing aid is what happens to or losing your hearing. And so now, what, I'm thankful that I live in this age, because now you know, my hearing aid, I can control it now with you know, with my phone, and, and because I have tinnitus, like right now I'm talking to my ears ringing, it's like that constant. And so I have to deal with that. And so it has these anti masking, so it's not as bad. So these are great innovations through you know, through technology that I'm thankful I live in this time, I'm very thankfully, you know, live living a life where you're of gratitude, and thankfulness is a good is a really good thing. Because because there's a lot of, I don't know, I don't know how people present themselves all on Facebook or Netflix. But, you know, there is a lot of suffering in the world. And so I look at my artists and how can I help uplift the human be an uplifting part of that. That's a great way I know it's very clumsy and sound too philosophical, but I want to be part of the solution, I suppose. Part of the problem like yeah, go ahead and jump. You know, that was the Van Halen song that he actually was. It was like suicide. Yeah, go ahead, jump. You know, I'm not that No. And then of course you do that, and let's rock and roll. But maybe you should recall, I mean, I had a friend who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and killed himself, you know? And so I would never tell him Yeah, go ahead and jump on somebody's on fragile. Don't do that. So that, you know, I mean, there's a lot of heartache, I just had a friend who just lost her child of fentanyl. 24 year old child. And it's heartbreaking to be around people who've lost a child like that. It's devastating. I did a painting one time of it had Jesus holding this little, this young man, you know, he's kind of kind of in this. And it was actually an illustration for an article about a teenage suicide and, and loss. And sometimes in somebody's in that condition, most you can do is just either hold them or touch them. It can't be talking to them and talking about what you're going through, if you're not if you're not hearing what you're going through this, but they won't want to just just that energy of you holding them. And there was a guy who bought that painting. And I it was like, a small little painting. This was, I don't know, 15 years ago, there's a little five by seven painting, and I didn't want to sell it. So I put like $2,800 on it. And I and the guy bought the painting, actually, the wife bought the painting for the husband because he was in a ministry to abuse children, or who who were marginal. And he came home and he was like crying. And she goes, What's going on? He was I saw this painting, and I just started weeping. So she went to the gallery, and she bought the painting for him for Christmas. So your part, you know, I didn't know that. You know, I wanted to get a painting of a rock. And it was sold in a show. And the son contacted me. And he said, My dad saw this, this, this painting and thought that he didn't need to start crying. And the reason why is he just told us that he now has terminal cancer, and he's gonna die. But this was the rock that we played on. I mean, I didn't know this. I didn't know this. We but this was the rock that we played on when we were kids. And the the father bought it, to give to the son to remember the good times.

Laura Arango Baier: 52:26

Amazing. That's amazing. Yeah, actually, I actually I remember one time I asked a guest, if they ever feel that they're accidentally painting something for a specific person without knowing. And it does seem to feel that way. Especially when you mentioned like events like this where, you know, the specific rock, like, that's insane. You know, just you just thought this is a cool rock, I want to paint it, but to someone else has a much deeper meaning. Yeah, yeah. And that's, that's the beautiful part of being an artist as well. Like we said earlier, that human connection, the almost the union sort of everything is connected and like everything that's going to be said will be said and it's going to be set again, you know, the, there's nothing new under the sun type of situation. And I found that beautiful that, that you were able to touch lives in that way, and then they touched your life back because you didn't know about the painting that this wife bought. But when you find out after it's like, Oh, wow. Yeah, this is meaningful. This is like it makes you want to keep painting as well. Absolutely.

Frank Ordaz: 53:36

And when you when you get Laura, when you get those storylines from people, it really gives you a shot of energy and grace. Like yeah, this is this is why I'm doing this, you know what I'm saying? And because you're able to see how, how, how, how it's involved with that family, I did a painting. It's called a one arm and a bridge. I went down to do a painting. We have a mountain quarries bridge, we all here on the American River, which is done by our canyon. And it it's a famous tourist bridge made out of concrete. And it's called Mount chorus bridge. So I want I want to go down there do a plane, a plane air, but it was already too late on three o'clock. And they were these three men father, Three brothers. One was drinking beer getting hammered. Another one was playing guitar. And the other one was fishing. So I asked him, I was fishing I go you guys might I was gonna take the shot here. Can I take a take a picture and I'm gonna Yeah, and then I found out the guy that fishing only had one arm. He only had one arm and he and he and he was he was smoking a Sillas era how he helped. I was smoking with one, just one arm. So I did I did the painting and that's it. The British call no hands bridge, because I think naming paintings are really important. So it's called what handed a bridge. And that painting just, I've had paintings that bring people together. Eventually the parents contacted me. They goes, How did you get him to, to post for that he was traumatized. He was working on a walnut farm and somehow is he's putting some brush into it into this, you know, the, you know, the brush grinder, and it just ripped out his arm. It ripped out his arm and somebody, you know, put a tourniquet on it saved his life, otherwise, he would have bled out. So, arm goes down to there he goes, he was he was. He's been really shy about it. And he's been in counseling. And so we're just, we're just amazed that he allowed you to paint him. And eventually I'd met him. And you know, I made a print print for them. And because they were not people of any means, you know, it's an even paying dollars for it would have been too much. And I'd say, but, and then he came back a year later. And he's got this high tech bionic arm. It's in he can, and he could program it in audience, gorgeous girlfriend. All right, man, you know, and he's moving on. Yeah, I did a painting of this one guy I was at I was at a Christian concert in a down in Sonoma County. And there's this guy, this hippie guy. And he looked lost, he was definitely out of place. And he was just walking around looking at everybody, and it's a painting upcycle the traveller. And I did this painting because I just, I was struck by who this guy was. And I posted it on Facebook, and I get a message on Facebook. Who is this? You know, my, how do you know this guy? This is a friend of mine. That was really cool. And eventually, this, I contacted this guy. And we start talking and he just become a Christian. So he was at this concert, he was just blown away, just just looking around. And he ended up on the west coast because he was mad at his mother, because his mother had divorced his father, he was angry about the situation. She had seen her talk to his mother in years. And this painting brought them together. He was a she even contacted me. So can I contact him? And I go, Yeah, sure, and have a follow up. But that's just the painting. This was a vehicle to release, have a communication, you know, between the two. And I had a lot of those I've just had a lot of those things happen to me in my work. So it's more than just selling paint. It's almost a ministry. You know, somebody came in here the other day goes, you're like a pastor of art. You're like an art pastor. You know, because it's more than just making a buck. It's being involved in people's lives. It's helping to encourage them life is life is worth living. Their life is beautiful. You know, there is beauty in life. Yes, there is ugliness and you can find some beauty and ugliness but I celebrate God's creation, I celebrate that. I'd rather looking the goodness in you than the pick on your faults. Because he I mean, you get around anybody long enough. You just go oh, I can handle that. You don't have to say it's the truth. You know, it can follow this is let's be honest here. That's just that's life. After you spend time with people. It's like, yeah, really bugs me, you know, the guy farts too much or he smells? Or he says, You don't know too much. I did. I had a me and a buddy of mine. We did have a radio show here in Auburn, K high No, no high like a K high. And so we talked about cultural things. And after I listened to myself for the first time, I realized I said 28 units drove me crazy. So part of my challenge was to eliminate the units. I got it down to maybe one or two for the half hour. And then as you said, the preamp the ohms. If now I eliminate the one I'm thinking of the arms. I just stop. Yeah, exactly. I gather my thought and then I talk so now when I hear somebody do too many Eunos or bugs the crap out of me. There's no I don't know. I don't know. That's why you that's why we're communicating. So you could explain to me because I might not know what you're thinking. So you learn a lot. You learn a lot in in listening back to yourself. It's like they don't really say it like that. Or make you make a lot of money. eggs. So life is worth living in focusing on on the positive, whatever is good, whatever is virtuous, whatever is a good report, these are the things he otherwise you're gonna get, you're gonna go cynical. You're always going to the news is for news is always the bad news, you know who killed her who said what? who burned down this? Yada yada yada Yeah, but I always thought it'd be a good good network. G NBN. The good news, bad news? Yes, a little bit of both. Because in life, there's both of these things are happening. Exactly.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:00:41

Yeah. And, and, you know, that ties back into what we were saying about the art market. You know, it's like, first of all, it's like, how do you want to participate in the art market? You know, like, how do you want to uplift, right? And then how, you know, how else do you want to connect with others? Through your art, whether it is painting or becoming a tattoo artist, or any of those different forms of expression? And I think that's yeah, that's, it's great to have that perspective. I'm noticing that I'm, thank you.

Frank Ordaz: 1:01:18

I've been interviewed by a lot of people. You're really good.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:01:21

Oh, I'm glad. Thank you so much.

Frank Ordaz: 1:01:23

I'm just saying that you not only asked questions, but you're also you had your own thoughts. And it makes me think of things just like, okay, that's an interesting way of looking at it. So yeah, so it's a dialogue. It's not just exactly asked me these questions. It's a dialogue. So that's yeah, I appreciate that.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:01:42

I appreciate that. You appreciate it. Because I really love making the conversation feel like it's just you and me, grabbing a coffee and just hanging out and talking about the things that are important to us and how others might benefit. From your knowledge, specifically, because you've had a quite a long career. You mentioned earlier that you started living from your work at the age of 21. And very curious about that. Because how was it like for you to make that jump to you know, you're 21 and now you're an artist living from your work? What was that like?

Frank Ordaz: 1:02:18

Well, there's nothing more dangerous than moving around people that you're accountable to, like in Southern California and Pasadena and moving up to northern California where nobody knows you. So I was not very good with my money at first. You know, there's I forgot who was the singer. The song goes something like, she's no, she's so fine. Ain't no telling where the money went. And I remember just spending so much money on the weekends with the girlfriend in school that I spent over $1,000 What would you this is back in 1883 84? Like, what's that? What is just a, you know, I was literally out of control. That's one reason why I became a Christian, you know, and I'll tell you a story I've never told before. And my kids know about this. But at that time, you know, I, I didn't do a lot of drugs, if somebody turn turned me on acid. So it's like, okay, I was out of work. We were gone. For the day, we had a day off. And I decided, Okay, I'm gonna do a dose and I lived in this town called San Dorado. We had all these fire trails back there. And so I was going to dose and just go with nature. And you know, I was really new agey, back to like, wow, look at this. He was great. And then we get a call, call. And it's like, you got to come in right now twice. As Leonard Nimoy is here. We're gonna do the Star Trek and you got to come in, I go. No, they go. Yeah, you gotta come in. So I had no idea how I made it there. But you know, when they were showing us, he showed us the animatics you know, the spacecraft, battle scenes this or that alert right behind Leonard Nimoy. I'm just going wow, look at that. That's amazing. And he's looked around going, you're like, Oh, I love it. I was extremely I was I was out of out of my mind nervous going once with Frank, you know, it was like more real, more real than real. I see that story because, you know, unless I got saved, I don't need to proselytize, but I definitely would have been dead I would have I would have killed destroyed myself. Because I had I had no boundaries. I had I just I was an absolute narcissist. I also truly horrible person. I just looked for my art look for me. You know, what do you want from life from the tubes? You know, I wanted to work on Star Wars make money driver on my Porsche just thinking I'm just The oddest thing and bought my own house single you know you're on top of the world thereby tells you you're on top of the world but I was you know very hollow shallow inside so you know when you hear Christians say they got saved I definitely got saved right because I was on the path to destruction in fact right now I'm doing a painting of, of Hank Williams and when I went in the church, I heard the song, you know, I saw the light, I just start uncontrollably crying and whoa, Why am I crying the song you know? And then years later I found out it was written by Hank Williams and I love Hank Williams. And when reasons I love Hank Williams because I love Bob Dylan, I read his book, Chronicles and his two biggest influences were helped me Guthrie, Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams. So I go, Hey, if Dylan loves Guthrie and Dylan's I got to explore these people. And I did. And I really got into Hank Williams. You know, he's, he's amazing. His his, his songs are like poetry. And so it really resonated with me. And that's art. It's painting with music, you know. And I remember one time when I was looking at one of my paintings just start crying a little wonky cry, you know, sometimes a song is just really moving me. And you just don't know how people are going to respond to this respond, respond to things. And I have one collector who I okay once like 12 of my paintings. And he bought his first paint, he bought me a painting Oh, and Johnny played with the dark side, which is my little boy, who got into an outfit of Darth Vader. And I thought that was odd, because I grew up with the Roy Rogers and trying to be you know, the good guy. And here's my my son dressing up like the bad guy. So the paintings called When Johnny played with the dark side. And he bought that painting. And he, his life turned around in the Grand Canyon. And he was just going nowhere. And he took a boat trip down on the river and Colorado, he said have just changed his life. He realized what he wanted to do. And he now he's very well to do. And so now he's been through my Grand Canyon paintings only because it means something to him. When it when it sees that he goes, Yeah, that go into the Grand Canyon. That changed my life. And the title of one of my paintings is the Edge of Forever. And he goes, Man, I don't know why you called it that. But I get that, you know, I was there. It's like, you're at the Edge of Forever, forever possibilities, you know, and then he makes it a zone. I think I think naming paintings is really I got a painting call on a seed pierced. An emerald, emerald stone, and it's on Emerald Bay. And I decided kind of like the crucifix if you look at it, you'll see going across the Christ. And of course, it's not the cross Christ. It's a it's a it's a tree. But the trees grown out of a rock. It's like, why are these trees growing on rocks while these little grooves between the rocks and so no, that seed I went down there again, Ruth and he got this tree. It was amazing. Right? So to me, it's, it's a metaphor there was seed pierced, was emerald rock and obey rock. And somebody bought it I was on the show, I don't know who bought it. But these are things that that really help people and it's part it's part of their journey. So if that's where I'm coming from, that's why, you know, that's what keeps me going. It's more than just, I'm just gonna, of course, I'm in the western market. Probably a lot of it has to do with my ancestry. You know, 55% you know, Mexican, American Indian, teach America probably, you know, ancestry says that's where I'm at. So we're, we're the Indians running away from the Aztecs, you know, looking over our shoulders, you know, obviously, my strength survived. And so, my family's from New Mexico and moms and so I grew up with Navajos. My grandfather spoke Navajo, my grandmother made dresses for Navajo, you know, love love the turquoise a lot of my buddies now are merchants so my closest friends we go to Santa Fe every year together when a house and they sell you know, first second third phase Navajo blankets and weaves and jewelry. So that's kind of my tribe now and these are people who, who love you know, Western Art. And that's, to me, it's a season right now. And I'm really into it. And I love the culture, reading about it, you know, and it reminds me of every year going to the ranch with my, my grandfather, my uncles were cowboys, I mean, literally cowboy, horses with cows, and that whole the whole nine yards. So I would say a lot of my opinions just, it's just a documentary of my life experiences. So you don't want to be well, this could not my opinion, but you don't want to be at RCC. Just finding pictures on the internet. And that's cool picture I'm gonna paint that. Like that's, that's kind of soul lesson after a while because you're, you're borrowing somebody else's inspiration. I mean, everything I paid for was usually something that I've had an idea. Here's a classic example of my little boy. David, one day said, I'm unhappy world, I'm unhappy. Well, I always thought that's, that's a good. There's something there. And I kept that, you know, in my mind. And then one day, this little girl her dad came in, and she had this blow up. You know, she had a balloon hat. Like, Oh, can you pose for me, you don't want to hear my daughter poses for me. Because I've been here, they all know me. So I'm not a pedo or anything. Yeah. photograph that. And I thought about this. And here's a painting. And that painting morphed and you'll find on my website at painting morph into the Duchess of happy world. You know, she's got the collar on. And a little scepter is, you know, candy, candy, and the South Emerald City behind her. It's all made out of balloons. And it's just something I want. I wanted to I wanted to paint and it and the reason I call it the Duchess of Hebron, I'm thinking of a book, but I'm too lazy to write a book. Because to be a king and queen is responsibility. If you're a Dutch Duchess, you have less responsibility for being for the Forever team. And the person who bought that was this doctor, who was we call a doctor who doctor for kids. Yeah. She saw that you have to have that painting. She goes, because I worked in the children's hospital. And I love that. So it's like you're, you know, she's able to meet the girl, she wants to be the little girl and all that. So it's helped me a fair so I you know, I'm a little unusual here that I do have my studio slash gallery. So I do meet a lot of my collectors. So I don't know how that is with other artists because they're selling through a gallery, you know, in some and some galleries are very provincial about No, I'm not gonna let you know who the buyer is. Because maybe you're gonna call them up. And I'm gonna lose that. So it depends. Some are will tell you some Well, yeah. So but I pretty much still most of them like collectors and so on. When I'm done with something, this might be a tip. I do what a gallery does. This is one of my news paintings, you know? So there's a gal who wants to buy a painting now she was Franca. But I got this new house. I don't need the autumn colors anymore. I got something that doesn't have autumn colors. Who's that? And, you know, I've sent her like three things with us too much autumn colors, but she wants other painting. But just at some point, you know, she'll, she'll dive in. But I'm not cool with that, you know, I kind of done being a purist, you know, you know, I've read especially to tell you guys, you know, I have to make my own oils, I have to stretch my own canvas. And I did that for a while it just takes up way too much time. You know, there's people are really good at making canvases and really good at making paint. And so, like, right, I'm sponsored by Blick you know, and so they just put two of my paintings on under new, check it out. They put one of my paintings on their artist boxes. So this into the, into the Twilight painting. So that's kind of that's kind of a cool thing. Ah,

Laura Arango Baier: 1:14:13

sounds great. And, you know, that's, that's part of how, you know, we were saying your career, it's been prolific and long, and you've remained very open and receptive to the things that bring you joy, that end up bringing other stories. So you really are uplifting everyone around you. Which actually makes me wonder, do you have any upcoming shows? Or do you have any upcoming events workshops that you'd like to mention? No.

Frank Ordaz: 1:14:39

Yeah, in fact, I'm leaving tomorrow for Broadmoor experience. So Rob our galleries which is in Colorado Springs, so I'm gonna be there my good buddy Thomas black shares there, so I'll be hanging out with him. And, and then let's see here. I was telling you I was on the board of the California art club. So we're having our gold metal show. So I'll begin the gold medal. So I think that's the Hilbert Museum in orange. I'm not sure I should know that, and I don't know that. So, but I know it's in Southern California. So I'm in that and then I'm going to show there's a newscaster by the name of Glenn Beck. And he's invited 30 artists to be involved in his first ever show is called American narratives and fine art. And so I'm one of the 30 artists that got invited. You know, you've got, again, my buddy Thomas black shares in it, Tom Browning's in it. My other buddy, Michael dudash, is in it. Let's see Morgan Weiss things wife is in it. These are I should, I should know more names, but Thomas flirty, who's amazing cartoonist and draftsman in it. It's gonna it's gonna be a good show, I think he could, the website is up. So I picked the theme. We're all supposed to pick a theme, and I picked the country music. So I did a painting. Just because I decided that I love Johnny Cash. I love Gene Autry. I'm right now finishing up on my Hank Williams. So that shows going to be in September. And so Jason Rich is also are one of the guys when it gets to the pre to West are in the show. And so I'm gonna be doing that. And then then here, here, I get involved locally. We have a studio tour in November. So I open up my studio, we get people from local coming into the gallery at Studio Tour. I'm also involved with Artwalk. So people can come in here. That's an August. Yeah. Yeah, and I bring my wife along, we are doing another show in Santa Fe, and I bring my wife along weekend family event. And it's all good. And, you know, meet with friends and grow old and tell stories together. And also, you know,

Laura Arango Baier: 1:17:12

yeah, yeah. Being more part of a community and yeah, and taking joy in coexisting with the people around you. That's very beautiful. Yeah. By the way, where can people find more of your work?

Frank Ordaz: 1:17:27

Oh, well, I've been with the Fine Art Studio online for quite some time now. So you just go to Autodesk art.com. You know, I also have a book, go if you want see, so landscapes, I have the iconic. So I do love landscapes. You know, I love still life, but I, I'm not passionate about it. So I don't do it. And then so many people are really good at it. And so I kind of stick to what I really love paying people and landscapes and people in landscapes, that sort of thing. And yeah, and you can also find me on Instagram, you won't find me on Facebook, because a horrible thing happened. And I wish I was famous because it'd be a remedy. Somebody inserted something and hacked my Facebook. And Facebook literally has just eliminated me. And I've appealed it and reset our decision is final. And I'm like, I didn't I didn't do anything. And they said for security reasons, we can't tell you what happened. That's crazy. Now if I was really really famous, you know, you know, they would have recourse but, but just yeah, they, they they really wiped me out there. Because during during the COVID thing. I'm right here on the street. So I get some business people coming in this place was like a ghost town. You know, like zombies zombie Ville, they're really worried leaves the Middle Street and it's like, so I had all these planners. And I decided I'm just Well, I got inspired by that movie life. Beauty is embarrassing by William bright. This guy went into these Goodwill stores, bought prints, and then started writing things on top of these old prints. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it gave me ideas of well, why don't I kind of do that with my own paintings. So I started being that I worked on Star Wars. I started putting Star Wars characters in my plein air paintings. And it just took off. It was crazy. I did this auction thing on Messenger. And I've sold all over the world. And just this was ridiculous. Just these paintings are hanging around as soon as I put a Star Wars character in them sold and that really kept me going Oh, and during, during that whole COVID thing, you know, and so, but I'm doing okay, so I don't need that as much. But that really helped during that during that COVID. So I'm no longer on Facebook. And I probably we'll get back on again. And I've no reason why they took me out. And they won't explain why. Why I'm out, but I am on Instagram. But that's weird because I used to be on Instagram and I hadn't posted in years. So I was getting upwards of 200 likes of it. And now I'm like, always with the algorithm, but it's like, I'm barely 23 It's like starting all over again. Yeah, it's weird. It's like, it's like each shot to lose momentum is like starting all over again. But you know, that's life in the big city.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:20:52

Yes, it is.

Frank Ordaz: 1:20:53

No use getting better about it. So it's just kind of like, you just got to work with it.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:20:57

Yeah. roll with the punches. Yeah.

Frank Ordaz: 1:20:59

I'm not the only one that's lost, you know, an account so.

Laura Arango Baier: 1:21:05

Well, thank you so much Frank for your incredible regaling of all these stories. They're going to be bouncing around my head probably for the rest of my life because there's so so interesting. So thank you so much.

Frank Ordaz: 1:21:18

Well, thank you