Gene Francis was born on a farm in San Luis Obispo California in 1957. As a child, Gene was introduced to creative thoughts from his mother’s side of the family. Gene’s grandmother was a poet and his grandfather was a carpenter by trade. Gene’s grandparents were his best friends and mentors, together they taught Gene not only the fundamentals of painting, but how to see, listen, feel and touch life.

Gene paints using egg tempura which is a permanent, fast drying painting medium that he makes using hand ground dry powdered pigments, egg yolk, vinegar and brandy as binders. Tempura paintings are very long lasting and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist. Egg tempura was the primary method of painting until after 1500 AD when it was superseded by the invention of oil painting; Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel with egg tempura. Paintings that are created with egg tempura dry to a beautiful smooth matte finish.

Gene has been painting for 24 years and has been influenced by the works of Vermeer, Eakins, Wyeth, Ma net and Rockwell over this time. He graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in business. Gene currently lives in San Luis Obispo with his family.

Gene Francis remembers his first experience with the medium. “My Grandpa had a big box of powdered pigments sitting in his shop, it got boring one night and he brought them in and said “We made up different powdered pigments and it just kind of fit like a nice pair of Levis.” It’s a tedious process. They rot easily in the container and that’s why I map out my paintings so well. It’s an old process, but I love it since I have more control over what I’m doing. I’m actually making the colors from scratch, picking the powders. It a nice way of painting for me.

“Putting ,feelings or emotions in a painting, whether they are happy, sad or somewhere in between, is a blessing that I do not take for granted. My work is not perfect nor has it always been pretty, wholesome or happy, but it is a world in which I engulf my body, soul, and my total being. I truly feel if I have one life and one purpose it is art. Art is my love and my companion. My paintings reflect my emotions.