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| Sunlit Birch by Frank Serrano, oil on canvas, 12 x 12. |
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Frank Serrano: Weekend With the Masters Instructor
Contemporary landscape artist and plein air painter Frank M. Serrano was born in
Los Angeles on November 29, 1967. He developed an early interest in art and
nature, studying throughout his school days, but is largely self-taught. His
natural talent eventually gained him a lucrative career as a freelance
commercial artist. After his success in the commercial field, in the early
1990s Serrano decided to pursue his passion for traditional oil painting and
has since developed a strong following of admirers, both nationally and
internationally.
Serrano, an avid outdoorsman, is recognized for his keen
sense of atmospheric observation and his ability to spontaneously interpret his
personal connection with nature on canvas. His popular instructional book Plein
Air Painting in Oil (Walter Foster Publishing, Laguna, California) has served
as a handbook to budding plein air artists and collectors since 2003, and he is
also featured in Walter-Foster's latest book The Art of Oil Painting. Since
August of 2006 Serrano has served as plein air-painting consultant for Walt
Disney Studios.
Serrano travels widely throughout North America painting
scenes from the desert Southwest to the beautiful high-country vistas of the
Canadian Rockies. A hallmark of Serrano's work is his unique talent for
capturing the hazy atmosphere characteristic of the West. Serrano cites early
landscape artist Sam Hyde Harris as a major influence in his work.
"Painting on location enriches my life, and the
paintings do not exist as mere pictures, but as a journal through which I can
express all my senses," the artist says. Although the majority of
Serrano's paintings are done on location alla prima, he also works in his
studio creating larger paintings from his outdoor sketches. He believes the
only way to learn to paint is from life.
Serrano is an artist-member of the California Art Club, for
which he served as a chairman of the Gold Medal Juried Exhibitions of 2004,
2005, and 2006. He is represented by Maureen Murphy Fine Arts, in Santa
Barbara, California; Cody Fine Art, in Wyoming; and Collectors Covey, in
Dallas. For more information on Serrano, visit his website.
Return to the Weekend With the Masters Meet & Greet.