Here is the speed painting of the angel I promised

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED__aqEGtNQ


I will go further into the painting process on SATURDAYS. Each Saturday there will be a teaching session on here. He who teaches, learns.

How To Paint Like DaVinci

Art school will not teach you to paint like Davinci because art school knows nothing about him or the Renaissance. Art school will teach you to paint like Sargent at best--I.e. badly. If you want to learn about Leonardo you must spend 20 years studying him in museums and books. Luckily I have done some homework for you over the past 20 years so I can help you copy a DaVinci that would make your neighbors jealous. Remember, there is no such thing as cheating in art so I will help you cheat your way through this painting.

The first thing you need is to print the picture above out in Kinkos or Staples. It is 10.5 inches wide so print 11 x 17 on color printer. (You can put on a thumb drive and print from a thumb drive right to a copier in either kinkos or staples)

After you have printed out you want to bring it home and trace it very carefully! If you dont have a lightbox you can use the glass on your front door. I have used this trick on many a mural job onsite. TRACE CAREFULLY! DONT BE LAZY...my drawing is flipped here--dont worry about that, Ill explain later.

Now go back to kinkos and have them make a black and white copy of your tracing! A kinkos person can flip your drawing left or right horizontally in the copier (called a mirror) very handy!

Now, for 5 dollars the kinkos person make a blow up of the image up to 24 inch wide. in this case that is exactly 230%

Now the blow up is 24 by roughly 34 inches the canvas is 24 x 36 so I added two more inches to image when i started painting. Ill explain later. Now put your tracing paper on top of this (use a roll of tracing paper that is 2 foot wide) carefully trace whole image again on a window or door. be careful and don't be lazy. I will post more each day on this project and also include time lapse video. Go make your copies and dont slack.

Brooklyn Etched Glass

I have started increasing my glass etching output. I go through phases of etching.  My studio is in Greenpoint Brooklyn, I can etch anything in glass. If I can draw it, I can etch it. Here is my website.

www.bluelineglass.com

The Flower of Life

Every so often I take out my compass and scribe one of these. see if you can figure out how its done, if you need help I will make a video and show you. Its a very zen-like exercise.

Raphael Video

http://youtu.be/terY5bKSdc0

A great video on one of my heros..

NYC Murals by Gardega

I recently finished this mural for Saint Micheal's Mausoleum in Queens.

Copy of the Doni Tondo by gardega.

I painted this copy of Michelangelo's Doni Tondo for a friend of mine.

It was a lot of work.

I am currently working on a mural foir St. Michael's Mausoleum in Queens. I hope to finish today or at latest tomorrow. I was worried about dealing with the doorknob but it kind of falls away from the viewers eye more than I expected.

Wax Sculpture: St. Theresa

I am sculpting St. Theresa in wax for a client. When done I will cast it in glass. Casting glass is many things, easy is not one of them. Just a sneak peek...I will post entire process on this blog.

One of the great drawings of all time

This drawing was drawn by Michelangelo as a gift to a friend of his. I forget the title but I saw the original  on display in NYC a few years ago. Amazing skill and harmony.

Amazing Article

http://nypost.com/2014/04/20/how-a-brain-injury-turned-a-college-dropout-into-a-genius/

How to cast glass..by gardega

I am casting a St. Theresa in glass for a client. I will show the process here.  First I carve the figure in wax. I have just begun so there isnt much to see yet.

Ceiling Mural by Gardega

I am working around the clock on a ceiling for Harley's BBQ restaurant in Harlem NYC. I have painted many, many ceiling murals so my muscles/ neck dont really hurt like they used to. I decided to base the mural layout on the spokes of the wheel chandelier in center. There will be a total of eight sections the first is Texas. Also there will be the West indies, New Orleans, Kansas city..all BBQ "HUBS" . I love BBQ and I love painting so this is a great job. Unfortunately I work overnights on it from 1:30 Am to 5:30 or 6:00 on it so I dont get to eat the BBQ as the kitchen is closed.

Update by Gardega

I have been very busy on many fronts. I  was in Texas helping a church open an art gallery. Ill post some pics of this later. I am currently painting a ceiling mural (overnights) in a restaurant in Harlem called Harley's. Its quite a feat because it will be my first ceiling mural on "tins" when this is done I have to hit the easel around the clock for an art show in Fort Worth Texas. Working overnights is strange to adjust. I arrive at 1:30am and leave about 5:30am.  I cannot sleep during day so I go straight to work in art studio, then I sleep from 7pm to about 11 or 12. I recently worked 24.5 hours straight and that was a record for me. The mural will be done before valentines day. Very complex to work around speakers and lights etc. I will post progress.

 I have finally started a website for my sales section of my art. http://gardega-art-for-sale.myshopify.com/ my main website is still www.gardega.com

my side project www.nyctradingcards.com has done very well and it was a ton of work but a labor of love. Thee cards came out very nice. here is the Brooklyn card..the first set has the five boroughs.

  back to work..

Nyc trading cards

Www.nyctradingcards.com

As seen in todays daily news. Another gardega creation.

                                       Spray painted rabbit by SKETCHYNYC 2013

24" x 36" canvas

Gardega Studios Murals

I have had a client for over 6 years and we have done two homes for him. It is best to keep your good clients happy. We are almost done with his second home after a few year on and off. I will post the final photos next week. Quite a journey.. 

Sun will 'flip upside down' within weeks, says Nasa

Tomas Jivanda

The sun is set to “flip upside down” within weeks as its magnetic field reverses polarity in an event that will send ripple effects throughout the solar system.

Although it may sound like a catastrophic occurrence, there’s no need to run for cover. The sun switches its polarity, flipping its magnetic north and south, once every eleven years through an internal mechanism about which little is understood.
The swap could however cause intergalactic weather fronts such as geomagnetic storms, which can interfere with satellites and cause radio blackouts.
Nasa said in August that the change would happen in three to four months time, but it is impossible to give a more specific date. Scientist won’t know for around another three weeks whether the flip is complete.
The impact of the transfer will be widespread as the sun’s magnetic field exerts influence well beyond Pluto, past Nasa's Voyager probes positioned near the edge of interstellar space.
The event will be watched closely by researchers at Stanford University’s Wilcox Solar Observatory, which monitors the sun's magnetic field on a daily basis.
Todd Hoeksema, director of the Wilcox Solar Observatory, said the polarity change is built up throughout the eleven year cycle through areas of intense magnetic activity known as sunspots which gradually move towards the poles, eroding the existing opposite polarity.
Eventually, the magnetic field reduces to zero, before rebounding with the opposite polarity. “It's kind of like a tide coming in or going out,” Hoeksema said. “Each little wave brings a little more water in, and eventually you get to the full reversal.”
One of the most noticeable effect on Earth will be a boost in the occurrence, range and visibility of auroras - the Northern Lights. “It’s not a catastrophic event, it’s a large scale event that has some real implications, but its not something we need to worry about,” added Hoeksema.

MURAL VIDEO BY GARDEGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8hlhimQyWc

On the easel(s)... I now paint on two easels as it saves me time.

Amazing Google Maps

http://www.viralnova.com/i-noticed-this-tiny-thing-on-google-maps-and-when-i-zoomed-in-well-nothing-could-prepare-me/

Murals NYC by Gardega

I painted this for a restaurant in Briarcliff, NY. The owners wanted it to be aged like the old hand painted signs on buildings in NYC. The painting is divided by a wall,hence the black line.

Etched Glass, NYC

I just etched a few dozen of these for a great company in NYC. Here is my glass website:

www.bluelineglass.com

Gardega on Voice of Russia Radio

I just did a radio interview with Voice of Russia regarding my Banksy go home mural/ street art. they said it should go on the radio tomorrow or so. Ill try to find a link and post. 

Banksy Mural, Upper East

New Banksy Mural on 3rd and 85th?

Vandal fesses up

This guy is the guy who tagged my picture. Im glad he ran out of art supplies because he wanted to change my god that I painted in oils and took a lot of time. 

Cy Ko said...
I bumped into your mural in the middle of the night. I looked up your website but I misstyped it and got an error... so for a little moment I thought it was a fake URL. This made me think it could really be something commissioned by Banksy. Because it is really in the spirit of Banksy (I am sure he would love it.) So I thought it would be funny to do something. Sorry my pathetic pen died in my Islamisation attempt... I didn't have my art supplies, otherwise I would have tried to make your God look more like an Iranian cleric! You did a great job. Good luck... + Try to sell it to Banksy! Seriously. He might buy it or sign it and it would pay your trip to Rome! (Do not forget the main reason graffitters work with stencils is because it is fast enough to avoid being arrested. A graffi is not a mural. A graffitter never asks permission to anyone about anything.)

dont mess with god as they say...

To purchase a gardega

for prints and fine art, best bet is to email me and Ill send a link to what is available.

alexgardega@gmail.com


For commissions I am booked for mural and glass commissions until mid November.

My Mural-Fitti in NY POST

http://nypost.com/2013/10/21/new-banksy-artwork-has-fans-flocking-to-bronx/

someone graffitied my graffiti!

The press called me to come there while they photographed my mural this morn so I went to see them and saw that someone had a little fun with my mural-fitti last night. Doubt it was the real Banksy and I doubt its the last thing that happens to the piece. They also added a crescent moon ( I guess a Islam reference?) in the skyline where a cross was, that was pretty clever except their pen died.

Banksy go home

I recently painted my first 18 wheeler trailer basically because it was there and most of my work is done alone in a room or private commissions for clients I decided it would be a bit freeing to get out and hit a big piece in the open air. If you look at the trailer I worked on there is a bunch of eye sore scribbles and things done apparently without any real effort, care or thought. I cant stand "art" that is done in a slap dash fashion and looks like last months sushi. If you are going to do anything put some effort into it.

As far as why I put in the tag "banksy go home" is more a statement about certain kinds of art than Banksy himself . I chose him because he is the best known street artist in my mind.  I do think his work is clever and I never have any sour grapes towards other artists like some artists do about jealousy regarding success etc. I just question why a spray painted Banksy stenciled piece (regardless of how clever) would be worth more than an Andrew Wyeth or an Odd Nerdrum etc. We live in an automated age of short attention spans and Ipads so maybe his work reflects the times (however shitty they may be.) 

Everyone knows who Banksy is but no one knows anything about Raphael. Some art schools dont even teach drawing anymore. I once traded art with Shepard fairey and asked him to draw me something and he said he cant draw. He was a nice guy so I dont mean any ill will but shouldnt a chef know how to cook a ham?


I am sure Banksy is a nice man and treats his workers well and pays them incredibly well etc unlike the corporations he mocks. If there was a Banksy exhibit in NYC it would be packed to the gills and the Rembrandt room at the Met remains largely empty save a few foreign tourists. I suppose street art has its place, I dont like people vandalizing other peoples property so for every Banksy there is 10,000 crappy scribbles like the truck above that hurts my eyes.  Some people, even some friends of mine got upset with my mural. Its just some damn paint and it will probably be painted over and tagged in  two weeks time. 

Why God? You figure it out...Tis much easier to spray a stencil (the british skyline took ten minutes) To oil paint God took 10 hours. I think rome wasnt built in a day but it could have been stenciled in two. 

Someone already vandalized my vandalism...if it was him I shall never know and If I found out I Skill Saw the pig out, sell it and go hang out in Rome for 6 months.

enough said...

I was killing time as I waited for a late contractor in Tribeca. I walked over to the water and watched the sun set over New jersey, Even Jersey can look good with the right sunset. God doesnt make bad paintings.

Etched Glass Brooklyn

When I am not painting and drawing I am running my architectural glass and design company. we specialize in etched and carved glass. We are Brooklyn based and serve the boroughs and surrounding areas.

www.bluelineglass.com

Sketchbook Drawing from Metropolitan: Herakles

sold

Rao's Kitchen Watercolor

Rao's kitchen. I went through a phase of painting a series of NYC kitchens. I tried to paint "old school NY joints" as I like to call them. I like restaurant kitchens because it is behind the scene where the sweat and toil occurs to make the magic the customers see. This is not unlike art. If you want a table at Raos, you cant get one.

sold.

Copy of Picasso (birthday gift) by Gardega. I like early Picasso, eventually he became a joke and a parody of himself. He was just "painting checks" in the end. I also think he went insane from syphilis, by the way. I have finally switched to painting on linen, I dont know why it took so long. It is 1,000 times better than cotton canvas. It is much more expensive but its worth it. I also still paint on Masonite.

Design For Etched Glass

Here is a watercolor I designed for a client that commissioned me to carve two piece of glass for her.

13" x 24.5" watercolor on paper

to purchase click here:

www.tendollarart.com

New Da Vinci Found? HA HA HA. Leonardo wouldn't have painted this on his worst day with a hangover and a broken hand. What a joke. Look at the hair and hand..Horrible art student level work.


http://nypost.com/2013/10/04/500-year-old-da-vinci-painting-surfaces-in-swiss-bank-vault/

Mariano Rivera signing my painting.

It made $7, 500 for charity. I didnt make money on it but I was happy to donate.

Random photos from the Metropolitan Museum

I go to the Met all the time. I like to take photos of details of paintings so I can learn more technique.