“I have to paint my vision.”

So says Frank Ordaz, whose visions range from portraits and landscapes to cowboys and old trucks. He is so eclectic in his subject matter and style that a gallery owner once told him, “I don’t know where to put you; I don’t know how to sell you.” That gallery owner needn’t have worried because his paintings sell themselves, appealing to a similarly eclectic group of collectors. Simply put, Ordaz’s paintings cannot be labeled—and neither can he.

Although he was trained as a fine artist when he was a young boy, Ordaz spent his early career as an illustrator, working for Lucasfilms on movies that included “ET,” “Star Trek: Wrath of Khan,” and “Return of the Jedi.” He later did illustrations for movie posters, magazines, and books. In fact, he earned the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s Gold Medal for his illustrations for a book titled “The Very First Christmas” and, at the request of then first lady Laura Bush, he designed the 2006 White House Easter Egg Roll poster and egg.

Read the full article in the March/April 2023 issue.

Before the Cut

Oil
30″ by 30″

“I was observing this certain young lady prepare her horse for a cutting event at the junior rodeo in Lincoln, California. I loved the shared moment between the two as she secured the ankle collars on her cutting horse. It’s an amazing event that focuses on the ability of the horse more than the rider.”