"Cornfield", 6" x 8" oil on linen, Frank Gardner © 2008
$500. Framed. Available at Galeria Gardner
I plan on going back again to keep studying the colors in the drying cornstalks. It is a beautiful color buffet down there. I want to get some good info for a few larger paintings. They said it will take them about a week to cut this whole field.
I loved the green grass that was showing in the row that they had cut into the field.
Below is a picture of the painting and scene. The painting in progress is in focus and the corn is pretty blurry. It is a useful photo because it really shows the importance of squinting down to look for the big shapes first. If you can't tell, where I was looking is directly above the panel.
O.K., on to business.
I've been tagged by not just one, but three fellow bloggers. Thanks to Marc Hanson , Stacey Peterson ,and Paula Villanova.
Here are the rules:
1. Put a link in your posting to the person who tagged you.
2. List 7 unusual things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and comment on their blogs to let them know.
I am just going to do this once for all three tags. I can't come up with 21 people to tag who have not been tagged with this one already. Unusual things there are plenty of.
Seven unusual things.
Hmmm. well... I can't give up the good stuff and I dont want to dig so deep that I need therapy.
1.We collect all of our gray water and it is pretty much all we need to water our garden and yard.
2. I hate to throw anything out. I'll save all kinds of stuff thinking that one day I might be able to use it. Thanks Dad.
3.I hate to ask for help to do things. I built a lot of our home by myself. Electric, plumbing, putting up walls, painting, tiling, kitchen cabinets ( with some help) and on and on. And... am still working on it. Which leads to number 4.
4. I procrastinate. For example, I have been tiling our bathrooms for 12 years. I finished most of our upstairs bath pretty quickly, but there are little details that still have to be done. I have been doing the downstairs bathroom for about 3 years. Have about 3 square feet of the shower floor left and I am done. Julissa is about ready to kill me. Really. I think she lets me go on painting trips so she can have people come in and do projects without me stopping her and saying I can do it myself.
5. We live in a straw bale home. Three friends bought property together and we each built houses with straw, helping each other out.
A weird twist on the three little pigs I guess.
6. I collect and repair antique trucks.
7. I was kidnapped once in Mexico City. By four men dressed as police and in a police suburban, must have been police. No finger cutting or ransom or anything, but it was a real drag. That was 14 years ago or so.
8. I like weird movies and laugh when I think about them. A few favorites are: Nacho Libre, Napoleon Dynamite, The Party, Blazing Saddles, This is Spinal Tap and Repo Man. There are others, these are just the ones that came to mind quickly.
I decided to throw my own little twist into this one. One of those 8 things is complete baloney, malarkey, bull poop.
Can you tell me which one it is?
This tag seems to be going around faster than a San Miguel cough, so it was hard to find bloggers who had not been tagged with this one yet.
Here are 7 Blogs that I enjoy. Some are new friends and some I have known for a while. These are interesting blogs that you might want to check out if you don't know them.
Eric Merrell
Mike Rooney
Dan Corey
Matt Innis
Bonnie Luria
Don Gray
Silvina Day
77 comments:
Beautiful light and impressionistic feel. I like this one and San Miguel.
Thanks Frank, for adding me to your list. Reading the list of your unique qualities was a little eerie... Our bathroom is still waiting for those last few tiles, our bedroom renovation began 7 years ago (it took 3 years just to complete the wallpaper), I'm a typical artist/pack rat, and I was once kidnapped by "police" who were driving a renovated antique truck (they forced me to help build a straw house then let me go).
I'll tag you later in my own blog.
The corn field painting is beautiful, BTW. Love the colors, and the light is amazing.
All my best.
Matt
www.innisfineart.com
Things I like about this painting:
down by the ground.
i can SMELL the scene.
the best array of harvest-time colors.
wildly alive.
Things I don't like: reminds me of a bad experience snipe-hunting.
Oddball thing about this painting: it reminded me of the opening scene of Blue Velvet - down in the grass. But, that was suburban grass - you wouldn't find a random ear in a Mexican corn field. ...well, maybe an ear, but just not a random one.
re: tag. I liked the intro line the best - the thing about not giving up the good stuff but not wanting to dig deep/therapy. I like all those movies! I liked innisart's comment on your tag. And, it's either the kidnapping one or the truck one. Why would anyone make up that they water their garden with gray water? On the other hand, you don't seem like a procrastinator - at ALL - so maybe THAT was the fake....trying to make all of the rest of us feel bad...
: )
Those tag things.....they're like those awful chain emails that tell you something bad is going to happen to you if you don't pass it on to ten more friends within ten minutes......only these blog tags are out there for everyone to view, so you can't politely ignore them..............yipes.
Solveg
haha that was funny, I will work on my tagged thing soon, I have to learn how a few things work as far as links and stuff. Frank is there any chance of doing a "reproduction" of Cornfields before it sells? I will withhold compliments until you say yes or no and price :) oh yeah I think its the one about living in a straw house, do I win something ??
#6. ;o)
I'm tempted to say #7, because I think it might be difficult to build a house like that in Mexico. If Mexico is anyway like here, everything is concrete. But then I though that you guys are so close to the US that it could happen. So there you go, I say #6.
Now I'm off to vote! Wish me luck :o)
You don't just make us better painters- you make us funnier too.
Some very witty comments here Frank.
Innisart, Solveg, Dan, Alicia.
( Oh, and yours about the San Miguel cough...)
You've got us all guessing.
But first, I like the way you manage to use orange and green together and not have it look like a logo for a burger joint.
Those bold little dashes that have so much character and the way you use color. Just wonderful.
Don't kidnappers usually go for ransom- big ransom?
Would tiles work in a straw house bathroom?
Whatever we think, it could be the opposite so if we think it's the opposite of that, then it's what I originally thought which is......
I vote for the "kidnapped" one as being complete bull crap.
I really like the colors in your cornfield.
Thanks David.
Hi Matt. That IS eerie. You don't really need to even write any after that. Weird.
I got a kick out of this comment.
Thanks.
Hi Solveg. Thanks. I like Blue Velvet too. A little weird, but I like it. Yeah, we only find severed HEADS here in Mexico not ears.
Hi Dan, let me know if you need a hand making a link. I could probably get a reproduction of that one. I like how it came out, but was not going to frame it up until I got down there to paint a few more in the series. I guess it's not a series until I get some others though.
I'll send you an email. There is not one on your site, so if you can send me one I'll reply.
Hola Alicia. Best of luck today.
Funny is good Bonnie. Hey, if you can't laugh at me who CAN you laugh at?
It is fun to have you all guessing.
Thanks Dianne.
I'll wait till tomorrow until I let you all in on which one is the fib. See if we get a few more guesses.
Funny, the people who are SURE of it have sent me emails directly, good for you for playing along, and not giving it away.
I submitted my info on your site's mailing list. and I think when I do my tag thing Im gonna go FrankG style and include a bogus factoid about myself.
Napolean Dynamite! My brother just played portions of that for me because he thinks it's hilarious.
How about True Stories with David Byrne? Now that was a real knee slapper!
Love the cornfield.
oh, I vote for the kidnapping one.
I really love the colors you saw in the cornfield painting. I hope the kidnapping story was complete baloney....
I'm thinking it was Twin Peaks, the movie, not Blue Velvet............I was sure you'd've corrected me by the time I got home to fix my error.
But, since you didn't, maybe it WAS Blue Velvet........I don't think so.
Thanks Dan. I'll write you tomorrow.
Bogus facts are where it's at. May need to start a new meme on that one.
You need to rent it if you have not seen it Mary. It is not everyone's cup of tea. But I really dig it.
Have not seen True Stories.
Hi Paula. Thanks.
I'll let everyone know tomorrow which is the little white lie.
Blue Velvet Solveg. I have never seen Twin Peaks. I'm positive. That whole movie is about that ear.
Yep. Blue Velvet - I had to look up david lynch's filmography as I realized I had many of his movies blurred together - and I found out he made Dune and Elephant Man - I didn't know that. And, I'd forgotten about Straight Story.
Ah, David Lynch.............
That’s quite an accomplishment to paint that cornfield and you’ve done a wonderful job of it. Great work.
Well, Frank, I tagged you too, but I'm letting you off the hook so you don't need therapy. I want you to remain sound for a while so I can continue to enjoy seeing the beautiful work you do!!
Such a simple painting, yet gorgeous.
I didn't tag you Frank ( thought you had enough and although you have lots more to tell, save some for next round ) but you are mentioned....:-)
Still waiting to see which one is the fibber.
Thanks a lot Alexandre.
Thanks for letting me off the hook Marian.
You are right about the squinting to get shapes.
Works for photos too.
Were you really kidnapped?
I do hope not.
You must throw things out.According to my husband --there is nothing so valuable as space...
so a lot of our junk is in our poor son's basement.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
Well, I guess you are all waiting by your computers to see which one of these is the big fat lie.
( Drum Roll sound )
#6 I collect and repair antique trucks.
Is complete malarky.
I am hate working on autos.
Can put in gas and change the battery, maybe top of the windshield fluid.
Well, I've changed ball joints and stuff on the highway, but only because it was an emergency. Oh, and I can change a flat tire.
Alicia Padron wins a round of applause.
It was one of Solveg's choices too, but she had it narrowed down to two.
That was fun. Thanks for guessing.
Made that tag a lot more interesting.
Hi Elizabeth, Yup!
I have no space left in my studio. That's why I go outside to paint. LOL
I am always afraid that as soon as I throw something away that I will need just that thing for some project. I am better than I used to be when I was in college. But I had to run away thousands of miles to leave it behind... at my parents place.
And boy oh boy, do we ever have a lot of your "stuff".
That was fun.
Mom
i like the stronger colors and values in this one.. it really pops.
Aw, c'mom Mom, I throw out one thing each time I come up to visit, so that's like two things a year, or three for 2008.
Fun? you guessed it in 5 seconds.
Glad you like it Simon.
One reason I left out any sky was just for that. To keep it a little darker in value and make those highlights pop.
So, can I count on you to make it at least three more next year?
Yes, I guessed it right away - have been in the straw built, watched the collection of gray water, know some of those habits and still get worried when I recall the kidnapping. Ah motherhood.
Happy Thanksgiving to all
Love, Mom (and Dad too)
i love cornfields...this is a great painting! i've been eyeing some up across the road, photographed them, even bought some cornstalks, just haven't figured how to go at. thanks for making it look so easy... ;) what's my problem huh? the bright green really contrast nicely with the warm glow of the cornstalks. very nice.
oh and my guess....hmmmm...did momma give it away....let's see, she cancelled out 1, 5, & 7....based on a comment i read on JT's blog, 8 is out. that leaves 2,3,4,6....i think i'll go against everyone else's guesses and pick number 6.
Christine. I guess you missed my comment where I told which one it is.
Only Alicia was sure.
guessed that, but was torn between trucks and one other. The rest went with other choices.
Get on those cornstalk paintings.
hmmm...ok, well then fine, i admit it, i didn't read all 30 of your comments....my goodness it's like a chapter book...i skimmed...you know what it's like, keyboard keys sticking and jumping around ...LOL...but it's good to know i got it anyway right?
OK Comedy Central. I guess I should put it on the original post. That way all the Cliff Notes folks will find it.
I can't help it I get all these double dippers LOL.
I'm trying to group responses so the ticker doesn't go way up.
I appreciate each and every visit Christine.
Ha! I knew it! Someone who doesn't have the time to finish tiling the bathroom isn't going to have the time for a hobby like restoring antique trucks. Besides, whoever heard of an artist with hobbies (especially a married one).
Matt
www.innisfineart.com
you don't want to "dig so deep that you need therapy"? Isn't it a given that we artists are basket cases anyway?
I think that 12 years to tile a bathroom is malarkey. Because after a couple of years any sane wife would have strangled you. (I would have). I believe the kidnapping over the tile story.
Thanks for tagging me Frank. I'm happy to play.
Shoot! I commented before reading all the other comments. Geez, 12 years to tile a bathroom... I'll never complain to Steve again!
This has been WAY FUN, and WAY FUNNY!
I think people should tag you more often!
ha
ha
ha
!
!
!
: )
Solveg
p.s. loved your mom's comments, and your explanation post.
And, I so love the brushstrokes that are leaves that are glints of light in the painting - really, this painting makes me so happy when I look at it!
Well first of all, I love the abstract quality of this painting.
And aw!! I'm too late to make my guess! But I would have sworn that you're not a procrastinator 'cause you're so productive! Big sigh... Julissa and I would have TONS to talk about... ;-)
Great painting. It is nice to see it on the easel looking at the actual view.
Exactly Matt.
Hi Silvina, Who needs therapy? I've got my blog. LOL
I've been strangled, but I don't die easy.
Steve can thank me later.
Oh no Solveg, don't say that. I tag is a heavy burden. Then it takes me longer to do the things I have been putting off.
Thanks Jennifer.
Yes, I wear the mark of the procrastinator.
Why do today what I can put off till tomorrow?
Thanks Bill. Once I saw that picture I realized that I had gotten the colors pretty close.
Frank... Nice job and an expertly handled simplification of a tough subject to paint!
What's that saying 'when it rains...'! You could substitute 'tag' for 'rain' my friend. Whew!!!
At least as far as 'male' artists go, you sound like the rest of us. Can't stand to have someone else do what, illogically most of the time, seems like we should be able to do. Sometimes that works... but most of the time, well... at least we try.
But antique trucks... ??? When my friends were busy fixing cars, I was busy drawing. So that one sounded suspicious to me too.
It's been fun reading this one.
Tag your it!!! Just kidding. ;)
Ohh... thank you, thank you, thank you for the applause! :o)
Now, what did I win?
I hope it's not an offer to remodel my bathroom. Although it could use some new beautiful cobalt blue handmade mexican tiles. Hee... hee.. ;o)
Thank you for sharing your art and quirks! It is such a pleasure to visit and see your exquisite work.
And, now, to experience another layer of artistic elan--humor, wit, intelligence and a twist of the ear in the middle!
You really have described so many of your artist friends. Do you have a truth window, too, in your straw house?
Hi Marc. It is a real tough subject. I had to keep telling myself to stay focused on JUST what I was trying to paint, not the whole darn field.
I COULD do it all if I had the time : )
Win Alicia? That is a good idea, maybe I should do a contest. If it was not so hard to mail things from here.
Good one. Remodel your bathroom. ha ha ha.
I've got some nice cobalt blue ones in one of the baths.
I should show you all when I'm done. Ahhh ha ha ha.
Hi again Melinda. Humor seems to be rampant around here these days.
Laughing is good medicine.
We did not put a truth window in ours, but my neighbor has one in her house.
Thanks for the visit!
Love that: AHHH HA HA HA
too funny - works just like a voice-over!
....i fixed the music-while-commenting thing. just happened to be online when you wrote that.
thanks for visiting!
: )
s
(maybe send Alicia ONE blue tile)
Hey everybody, Dan Corey, who I tagged in this post, has gone the Fake Fact route. Check out his blog to read up and see if you can tell which is the Fake Fact.
He even has a prize.
Ok how much is the advertising gonna run me? :) Thanks for checking that out Frank.
I'm glad everything turned out well with the kidnapping. Yikes! Enjoyed reading your meme responses, including the made-up answer. ;-)
Paz
It's pricey Dan. Do you want to pay by the month or the full year?
Oh, me too Paz.
Glad you enjoyed. The fake fact was lots of fun. I would start a whole new tag thing with it but someone in the blog world would take out a hit on me. It's fun because you really think about the "facts".
now...why didn't I think to throw in a fake answer....geez clever AND a remarkable painter too. What a package!
I love the brushwork and the broken color.
I guess I was so astonished to see the reference to Napolean Dynamite that I forgot to comment on the painting which was my original intent!
BTW, True Stories is David Byrne of Talking Heads. Also, not for everyone. My friend and I saw it at a movie theatre with about 10 other people, 8 of whom left at various points along the way. We howled laughing :D
Thanks Celeste.
Napoleon Dynamite will do that to people Mary.
Thanks for the compliment!
53 Comments? Dude! It's no wonder you don't have time to paint AND blog anymore! Ha!
good on ya for doing this cool piece of the cornstalks. Well done!
Don't 'see ya' around much anymore. Too busy answering comments? ;-)
Hi Mike. I have been painting, just no computer time to work them up into a post. Have a backlog.
Thanks.
So what did you do or say to make your kidnappers let you go, Frank? You know, just in case it happens to one of the rest of us so we'll know what to do.
This was the best post ever. Art! Intrigue! Embarrassing revelations! Outright lies!
Do it again, Frank, would ya? Do it again!
Hi Susan, hmmm... long story. Maybe they decided I did not have much money?
I'll have to leave the rest of the story for another time.
Maybe my next "Fake Fact" post.
Glad you enjoyed my version of this tag. I thought that it spiced it up a bit.
I may just have to do it again.
Dan Corey, who I tagged, did it, and so did Colin Page, who he tagged.
Thanks for coming by.
Hi Frank. Your sense of humor tickles my ribs! Two movies I would add would be American Pie (I didn't know what it was about and my 14 year old son was in the room, no turning back, we laughed our heads off)and Best in Show (we have a pug who keeps us in stitches. Anyway, thanks for the insights to your personality. My guess would be the kidnapping in Mexico City is the false one. Oh, and wonderful paintings as always!
OK, quick before you can respond. I didn't read the other posts, so missed the mark..seems obvious now..who would make up being kidnapped? Glad your here to tell about it.
Hi Jennifer, You beat me to it. Yup that one was not the fake fact. Wish it was, but that was a long time ago.
American Pie is good too and Best of Show is hilarious.
I guess comedies are my favorite types of movies, because I keep thinking of more that I could add to my list.
I know I'm way late for this movie talk but in case aliens from mars or historians in the future read this blog, I think if funny movies are being discussed then I must say...Kingpin...., ok Im good.
Best of/in Show is by the same guy who made This is Spinal Tap - and Waiting for Guffman, and, A Mighty Wind. Christopher Guest, I think......
All HYSTERICAL!!!
Have you ever seen the similar spoof: Drop Dead Gorgeous. It's a mockumentary on 1st-round American beauty pageants - set, ironically, in northern Minnesota. Very funny.
And, if you like spoofs, there's a French movie, The Visitors (the English-language version, Just Visiting, is HORRIBLE) makes me laugh every time I see it....it starts out a bit slow, but takes off about 20 minutes into it, and then it all makes sense.
Dan, Have not seen Kingpin, but I was gifted the Blazing Saddles movie tonight, so I am excited.
They had not seen the mention of it on the blog either, so that was kind of weird.
Really Solveg? cool.
Have not seen Waiting for Guffman, or a Mighty Wind.
Drop Dead Gorgeous either.
ok Frank, Kingpin is right up there with water and oxygen, you must see this...
BLAZING SADDLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HA
HA
HA
Young Frankenstein, too!
Mel Brooks in general.........
I haven't seen Kingpin either, btw.
Did we all just miss your birthday? I seem to recall it's right around now......
Happy Birthday!
Fun time of year for a birthday!
: )
Yes, Mel Brooks is a funny guy.
And yes, it was Thursday. I was going to have a party on the blog, but got caught up in other things.
Ok Solvay you to ??? no KingPin?? I dont know if the technology is there but I should look into an online screening with simultaneous blogging! anyway did you have a good Birthday Frank? hope so
I'll have to look for it at the Blockbuster Dan.
Online screening with blogging? Sounds fun. We could all make our own popcorn.
B-Day was good. Thanks!
I had wanted to do blog party with games and prizes, but I have a cold and was busy with work etc... so I could not pull it off. Maybe in the future. I think it would be fun.
You were the only one who had picked up on that Thursday. Solveg figured it out though.
We are having my favorite Mexican meal prepared by my Mother in Law in about five minutes.
Cool on everything(except the cold thing) and I'm sure it sounds Betty Crocker-ish of me but maybe we could swap some Brasilian recipes for some Mexican??? I wonder how big the fine would be if I braodcast Kingpin from my blog??
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRANK!!!!
Sorry you have a cold - I hope it wasn't so bad you couldn't enjoy your dinner! What are the elements of your favorite Mexican dinner? I bet your mother-in-law is a great cook!!! Yum!
And, that group-blog movie-watching thing - fun idea. ...our own popcorn.....gosh, I think blogs should have scratch-and-sniff - or one of those aroma machines like Maude had in Harold and Maude. That really has nothing to do with making one's own popcorn, but, hey, the idea blew across my brain at that moment, so.......I wrote it.
Does your wife have a blog, too? I seem to recall that once in the summer you replied to someone's comment from her blog.....I should be fair and visit HER sometime!!! I never forget that she and Erin are there, a part of all of this with you!!!
: )
I don't do much of the Mexican recipes Dan, my wife and her family do, and most of them are not written down or anything. I suppose we could try and swap some.
More like Martha Stewart if you are gonna start broadcasting movies on your blog. Ya know what I mean?
Thanks Solveg.
It was chili negro with beans and rice and fresh corn tortillas.
Chili negro is a chili sauce made with chili pasillo and tomatillos. It is served with beef.
I've tried to make it, but I can't reproduce what the girls can do.
No, she does not have a blog. I just commented using her google account by mistake once.
HAHA you mean I would go directly to jail ..?.
Ha ha, yeah, that's what I meant Dan.
If you ever paint another little gem like this please let me know. I've always loved it.
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