Alfredo Rodriguez, Art of the West, March-April 2015

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March/April 2015

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For All Fine Art Collectors

Alfredo rodriguez

A Different PersPective

By Vicki Stavig

A

lfredo Rodriguez bemoans the loss of personal interaction, a casualty of the evolution of technology—computers, cell phones, and social media—that, while increasing the speed with which people communicate, has put a distance between them.

You can’t shake a hand or share a hug while tapping out letters on a keyboard.

So it is that Rodriguez focuses on people interacting with each other, whether it’s an old man reading to his grandchildren, or a young man teaching his siblings how to carve. During the first part of his career, he painted colorful scenes of Native Americans, cowboys, and mountain men, along with an occasional scene from his native Mexico.

Today, he is consumed with capturing scenes he describes as more intimate, more important.

“My current work is about what life has taught me during the past 10 years,” Rodriguez says. “I have lost my mother, a brother, and my beautiful daughter Ana. All these misfortunes have helped me see life from a different perspective. We need to focus on relationships with the people who are important to us.”

Many of the relationships Rodriguez captures continue to center on people of the past, but his paintings have become softer.

“My paintings are becoming more subdued with my colors,” he says, adding that he has moved from using strong colors of the Navajo clothing to more grays, siennas, and umbers.

The skills Rodriguez has mastered and the success he has achieved are the result of dedication and determination. In fact, the only art instruction he has had were six onehour classes when he was a young boy.

Growing up in Tepic, Mexico, Rodriguez was one of nine children. The family was poor but, when he was 4 and asked his mother if she would buy him a sketchpad, 42 ART of the WEST • March/April 2015

Ready to Ride, oil, 36˝ by 24˝ “After an extended period of time away from his horse and saddle, this cowboy is anxious to saddle up and go for a long ride.”

she scraped together enough money to make that purchase, along with two pencils, for Christmas. Two years later, she bought him a set of watercolors and, within a few years, his parents managed to pay 60 pesos for six lessons from well-known Mexican artist Santiago Rosas.

Rodriguez says he was devastated, when his parents could no longer afford to pay for his studies, but he followed Rosas’ advice to study the Old Masters and all the art books he could get his hands on and to visit museums and galleries. “He also told me to practice, practice, practice,” Rodriguez says. “That’s what I’ve been doing ever since—making mistakes and learning from them.”

In 1968, a tourist from Texas, noticed—and purchased—one of

Three Frustrated Miners, oil, 24˝ by 36˝ “This painting depicts three prospectors searching for gold during the California Gold Rush of 1849.

Those who came early had the opportunity to strike it rich in the gold fields, but the large majority of miners were less lucky and often returned home with nothing more than an experience filled with frustration and defeat.”

Rodriguez’s paintings, which had earned first prize at a local show, and was so taken with it that he made several trips to Mexico to buy more of his paintings, selling them in the United States and returning to purchase more. “He would bring me black-and-white photos of Native Americans, and I would paint from them,” Rodriguez says. “I loved John Wayne and Western movies, and I already was painting the Mexican Indians that live around the Sierras.

I was fascinated by the colorful costumes they wore.”

Tired of the constant traveling, the Texan urged Rodriguez to move to the United States, which the young artist did in 1975, after

completing his high school studies.

When Rodriguez applied for a visa, the American consul in Tijuana did not believe him, when he said he was an artist.

“He asked me to do a painting in order to get a visa,” Rodriguez says. “He gave me a black-and-white photo, and I went home and spent three days painting a 16” by 20” portrait.”

When he returned with the painting, the official still wasn’t convinced, so Rodriguez completed it in front of him. “I think they still have it there,” he says with a laugh. Once in the United States, he quickly made a name for himself.

“God has been helping me from

day one,” Rodriguez says. “I never had to look for work; people would commission me to do portraits.”

Within a year of moving to the United States, he got the break that would launch his career when Ed Trumble, chief executive officer and founder of the Leanin’ Tree publishing company, purchased some of his paintings and featured them on greeting cards. In fact, today several of those paintings are included in the Leanin’ Tree Museum in Boulder, Colorado.

By 1979, Rodriguez was able to purchase a home in Corona, California, where he lives with Cheryl, his wife of 31 years. From there, he often drives Highway 49 to northern California, the route taking him to the Mother Lode, the geographic center of California’s gold rush. “It extends from Melones, near Sonora, in the south nearly to Auburn in the north,” he says.

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49 beckon Rodriguez, and it is there he finds the models he uses for his paintings of miners and pioneer people. “The place I like to visit the most is Columbia, which is a state historic park,” he says. “It has a living history museum, where they still preserve most of the buildings of 1849.

They still have the same bars and saloons as in the 1800s, and the city hotel still has furniture from 1849.

I’ve been going there for the past seven years.

“Over the years, I have found people there who are living like they did in the 1800s. They’re happy to model for me, because I try to have a relationship with them and their families. We become friends first, and then they become my models. I want to capture not only their likenesses, but their personalities.”

Rodriguez takes equal care when creating the backdrops for his characters. “Most of the time I try to pose my models in the location I want to paint them in, so I can see everything is there—the light, shadows, and rocks—so everything goes together well; everything is in harmony. Every time I paint a model in

Grateful Hearts, oil, 16˝ by 24˝ “An old couple gives thanks to the Lord, not only for the food provided, but for their long lives and countless memories. A grateful heart is a happy heart.”

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Lessons With Grandpa, oil, 36˝ by 24˝ “I really enjoy depicting relationships in my paintings, especially interactions between small children and elder members of the family. This painting reminds me of my grandfather, when he would sit with us on the porch and read stories to us. He loved sharing his knowledge with people, especially the young. It’s sad to see that, in this current electronic world, we seldom see scenes like this anymore.”

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Sharing the Light, oil, 40˝ by 30˝ “’If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it,’ someone said. I think the title of this painting is self-explanatory. While one child shares the light from his lantern, the old man shares with his great-grandkids the ‘Light of the World,’ one of the many ways Jesus is described in the Bible.”

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The Toy Wagon Maker, oil, 24˝ by 30˝ “As Christmas approaches, this young cowboy shares his skills in woodworking with his siblings. He also is passing on his trade to the next generation.”

my studio and add in the scenery, it’s a struggle to get the light and shadows right, so I prefer to go to the location I want to portray.

“Maybe I have an old man and a couple of children. I put them in my van, and we travel to the location, so I don’t have to incorporate pictures.

It’s so much more authentic. They look like they really belong there.”

In his quest to incorporate authentic scenery into his paintings, Rodriguez packs up his paints and heads outside. “Plein air painting only is practice for my larger works,” he says. “I don’t go often but, when I do, it’s a delightful day. I usually take 9” by 12” panels and do quick painting sketches and color studies. I also take photos; I have hundred of photos of models, clouds, trees, rocks, and mountains.”

The focus on relationships has brought with it a change in how Rodriguez paints his scenes. “It has improved my style,” he says. “I think I’m more realistic than I was before and can capture expressions of the characters I am trying to portray better. If it looks unfinished to me, I keep working on it. It’s very difficult to determine when a painting is done. It’s done when I can’t improve it any more.”

Rodriguez says the best part of being an artist is getting up in the morning, going into his studio, and getting recharged and inspired to do the paintings he enjoys. Coming in second is seeing a red dot on one of his paintings, which indicates that “someone was willing to pay thousands of dollars for it,” he says.

Rodriguez sold his first painting

in 1964, when he was about 10, to an uncle for 20 pesos. He’s come a long way since then. Today his paintings are included in prestigious shows, as well as prestigious collections, including that of Gene Autry’s widow Jackie.

He is quick to praise Santiago Rosas with setting him on the path to a successful career in fine art.

He offers up the same advice he received from Rosas to up-andcoming artists, with this addition, “You have to love art and be willing to have hard times. If you are passionate about it, you will make it, because people respond, when you do things with passion.”

Vicki Stavig is editor of Art of the West.

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