Winter Corn
Andrew Wyeth
1948
Andrew Wyeth
1948
Sprouts poke through earth,
children eager to heed the sun's instruction.
Lanky summer youths in fine array
beckon in the breeze,
"Come dance, come play,"
before yielding a golden harvest
in the softening autumn light.
Battered, chapped,
winter sentries
wearily hold formation,
waiting to be felled,
their remains shrouded
beneath a chenille blanket of snow.
DA COUNT
I was thinking last night of what to post for either a 55 or a count today and though there is always much to be thankful for I was feeling kind of bereft of inspiration. What few ideas I had felt forced. I got up this morning and perused the headlines. I was sad to see that American painter, Andrew Wyeth, has died. I am by no means well educated in art but I have always liked his works. I enjoy realism and portraiture so his style and subjects appeal to me in that way. He's also a son of Pennsylvania and spent his life outside of Philadelphia not terribly far from where I grew up so even when he turned his eye to landscapes and still life work it was often a vision that was familiar, just seen through an artist's eye.
I decided to flip through an online gallery of his paintings to see which one spoke to me for a 55 since it's been a long time since I wrote one inspired by a work of art. I got a little lost in the gallery, hence the lateness of this post. So many were utterly captivating but the corn whispered to me. Corn fields very much give me a feeling of being home. I love the way they change the landscape over the course of the year. Now you may really laugh at this but, I love that corn is a New World crop. It just plain belongs here (not to say it can't go anywhere else).
This all seems kind of stream of conscious I suppose but I guess it boils down to this: corn is home, Andrew Wyeth is home. The beauty of the natural world and the art of man are home for me. Home is where your soul finds rest.
I decided to flip through an online gallery of his paintings to see which one spoke to me for a 55 since it's been a long time since I wrote one inspired by a work of art. I got a little lost in the gallery, hence the lateness of this post. So many were utterly captivating but the corn whispered to me. Corn fields very much give me a feeling of being home. I love the way they change the landscape over the course of the year. Now you may really laugh at this but, I love that corn is a New World crop. It just plain belongs here (not to say it can't go anywhere else).
This all seems kind of stream of conscious I suppose but I guess it boils down to this: corn is home, Andrew Wyeth is home. The beauty of the natural world and the art of man are home for me. Home is where your soul finds rest.
29 comments:
Trini.....?
Excellent Biblio-55.
Andrew Wyeth is as Americana as you can get. Thank You so much for the wonderful contribution today...You Rock The House!!!!
...and BTW, BINGO!!!!!!!!!
I can not say I know him as uncultured as I am but I must say the picture brought with it a kind of warmth, your words were wonderful and the tribute or just plain Da Count was wonderful.
From no inspiration to completion in no time at all. Oh that I could pull that off.
huge fan of Wyeth, thanks for posting this.
i will have to check out wyeth art...great 55. i'm up.
Cool 55, Lime. The best thing about artists is when they dye, they leave all sorts of cool stuff behind for us to remember them by.
Thank goodness!
Erm, die.
Beautiful! I'll look at those cold stands of corn left behind to endure the winter in a whole new way.
A wonderful Da Count!!!! It's sad when a positive presence in the art community passes, but we can still be inspired by the work he left behind. :)
Home is rest!
Happy weekend!
I've always loved that corn is a New World crop too. Corn on the cob in summertime is da bomb.
I love it! Just fabulous 55.
I love looking at fields of corn, my eldest daughter is terrified of it because she saw the movie "Children of The Corn" a few years ago while staying with a friend and now she wants nothing to do with it but like I said, I love it.
Great 55 and count! Stay warm and have a great day!
I hadn't realized he died. One of my good friends is a hygienist and cleans his teeth *which makes me like related to him by some far stretch of the imagination.*
Have you ever been to the 'Brandywine River Museum?' Next time you're down this way you simply must make time to visit. The museum is lovely and the works amazing. It also houses Jaimie Wyeth's work.
Such an eloquent description. I had to go to the dictionary to find out what "chenille" means. I'm normally eager to increase my vocabulary, but there are certain names of fabrics and colors and other things that if a dude says them, he has to turn in his "man card."
Thanks for sharing. Stay warm.
I'd say when the inspiration finally did hit you, it hit the triple 20. 'Cause this? Is art!
Heck of a good painter. I've enjoyed everything of his that I've seen.
Nice 55.
When I saw the painting I thought it must be chinese calligraphy!! So I was surprised. Lovely poem on your friday 55!!!
Wow, Andrew Wyeth and Ricardo Montalban in the same week?
And as a bicyclist, I've always appreciated cornfields. Rural rest stops, and all that, you know. . .
Great 55 lime! I just saw that he died...sad, but he sure lived long and created wonderful art. I do have one on my blog side bar, really far down, but slightly altered! :)
I didn't know he lived in PA. My cousin just moved to CF. I would love to visit Maine...never been.
Have a wonderful weekend...
I'm playing hostess to my cousins 2 sons from Australia! good day mate!!
that is not just a 55ve, it is poetry, an ode! I love the flow here! Great piece Lime!
I don't know if you get them by you but we get tiny tiny little harvest mice that climb the corn and make tennis-ball sized round nests (like weaver birds'). The mice are gingery coloured and less than half the size of ordinary house mice and really really cute. I will post up one today chez moi for you...
It's funny.. as a drove past the organic farm on my route yesterday I noticed the wilted frosty corn stalks... Lovey in a lonely waiting for spring kind of way. I love that print!
Well done! Wyeth's art reminds me of growing up in middle of nowhere SD with his starkness. That's what it really looked like.
Lime, you should know that some times I feel very underdog.
You know why?
Simply because I'm not able to comment, in English, as you deserved reagarding this post.
It's too easy and empty and Blah - blah to just say something.
(I do think I have mentioned it before to you, (I've learned a lot since starting my blog)- that it feels sometimes hard not comment as I can do in my Native Language).
You know, I love art, Paintings, Music, Theatre, sculputures etc.
Hence, my last post is a photo I took back in December in 2007.
A Wall Painting in Bocca, a district of Buenos Aires.
And the post before, is also very special: Chimney Paintings. From NW Argentina - also from 2007.
Last year we did not travel much.
Anna did visit Ingelin (daughter) in Hong Kong).
Together we did visit Renny BA and DianeCA in Sweden
and I did visit Family and friends in Michigan and Minnesota.
That was enough - we lost after all the oldest Son.
Have a great week.
PS. I love your blog, but as written, I'm not allways "clever enough" to comment the way I want.
Can you accept?
I loved that one.
"...beneath a chenille blanket of snow...." how wonderfully poetic. It really paints a visual.
nice post Lime.
-Rick
Wyeth is home. Elegantly stated. Aye, he has gone but has left so much to us.
Sorry, I'm late to the party this week... it's been hectic to say the least.
I only knew of him by the paintings he did of his mistress in the corn fields and the house. It is a shame when the world loses one who can recreate things by looking at them - and I thank you for your post.
I love the way grapevines coat the hillsides of California, much like the corn you describe.
Fantastic 55, Lime. I was sorry to hear about the passing of a great artist as well...
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