Meet Frank Hernandez | Engineer & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Frank Hernandez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Frank, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I have always love art and painting. I formally started painting when I was a teenager and spent hours sketching and drafting during my summer vacations. Then I started transferring sketches into canvas. Landscapes, old buildings and nature related things were the focus of my artwork. After I graduated from High School, the expectation was that I should go to college and graduate to pursue a career and further develop myself as a person, expand my knowledge be able to get a steady job and a stable income. I was not totally against that and since I was a child always wanted to be an engineer, so I did. I enrolled into the University and graduated as an Industrial Engineer. During those college years, even though I stopped painting in canvas, my notebooks were full of sketches that I drafted during my academic courses.

Few years after I graduate from college, I got married and then had kids. During those years painting took a long pause. My family and work life took 100% of my time and I had to do the best to manage both properly. My work as an Engineer for a Major Oil and Gas Corporation was very demanding and full of challenges. Thanks to that Job, I got an offer to work overseas and landed a position in the USA. Took me and my family sometime to settle, and then having again some free time and with my children demanding less attention, I started to sketching and painting again. Recently started doing geometric art with bold colors and found out that it is a real passion for me; playing with shapes, colors, dimension and 3D effects and in a 2D canvas.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art is full of color and geometric shapes. I take color and movement (flow) as my most basic, most concrete source of inspiration. Geometric figures play, move and many time mix together. Flat or tridimensional spaces create the effect of what I see and perceive in the moment. I’m passionate about the creative process, the important thing is that everything flows, connects and matches; regardless the time it takes for the art work to be completed. I always start picturing empty white spaces, then color jumps and takes center stage. The intensity and tone is for me irrelevant, is just color, nothing else. Sometimes I face the fact that what I picture or imagine, is hard to develop or to transfer into a canvas. Then I leave and let the idea rest; start something else or just go out.

I have learned the paintings techniques by myself, I have tried many times and if I failed, I keep on trying. This is all about emotions and how do you deal with them so the final product is something you feel happy about it, something that can bring joy and peace to a future buyer or collector. I’m my worst critic, I believe most artist feel the same. We tent to be very demanding and perfectionist when creating art.

I want people to get to know my work and feel inspired by my story, no matter your age or background you can create and develop anything you feel passionate about it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take him to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts first, the Nancy and Rich Kinder new building is a must for Contemporary Art lovers. I will go there mid morning and then have lunch at the Museum, the new Cafes are wonderful. Another day will take him to the Herman and Memorial Park for some outdoor activities. Will definitely visit again the Houston Museum of Natural Science, one of the best of the USA. Will take him also to the Space Center, the Water Wall and the Discovery Green Park. For lunch or dinner, first to Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland then to Oporto Fooding House in mid-town and to Brennan’s Houston. If Time allows will do a short trip to Lake Conroe and Galveston.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My parents who thought me that hard work and persistence are the key for success. Also my wife and kids who are a source of inspiration and constant motivation to follow my dreams and live my life to the best.

Instagram: @paintingsbychesco

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franciscohernandezurdaneta/