Sprouting Black Aztec Corn

Years ago I was visiting an indoor winter farmer's market in the small gymnasium of a former old brick school building. One of the vendors was selling corn meal made from Black Aztec Corn and Bloody Butcher corn. He had a couple of the seeds that the corn meal was ground from and he let me have some when I told him about my series of sprouting seeds. I went home and wrapped a few of them in a wet paper towel to help them wake up. A few days later I took the first photographs that would influence two paintings.

Just barely beginning to sprout

The Black Aztec Corn that I brought home likely originated from a similar variety of corn that was grown 2000 years ago by the Aztec civilization. This corn is a hybrid of the ancient Aztec corn. It began showing up in seed inventories in the late 1800's. This variety of corn can be eaten like sweet corn when it reaches it's milk stage and the kernels are still light in color. As it matures the corn begins to turn shades of deep blue, purple and black. Growers say that when it is harvested in its maturity is makes a nice corn meal and indeed it did.

The first painting I created from this sprouted seed, Black Aztec Corn 1, I wrote about here: https://plantingseedscultivatingart.blogspot.com/2014/09/blue-corn.html
It was included in the group show "Midwest Summer: Light and Warmth" at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art in the summer of 2015.

Black Aztec Corn 1

Oil pastel and gesso on steel siding

16 3/8" x 18 3/8" x 2 1/4"

Image size 9 5/8' x 7 3/4'

**SOLD**

The second painting took an interesting turn. This painting is oil on canvas and the different substrate and larger size had a different effect on my painting. I decided to focus on the main activity within the center of the seed. In real life the subject was not as colorful, but the act of new growth is so full of energy and light. It became more important to be truthful about the energy in the expanding seed than the physical appearance.

Sprouting Black Aztec Corn

Oil on Canvas

24 H x 48 W x 1 1/2" D

I finished this painting in November, 2017.