Monday, June 04, 2018

Gail Gardner Gets His Due

June 4, 2018
   Had some fun over the weekend, painting up a storm. Literally. When I was working on finishing a recent whip out, I realized I wanted to honor a legendary Arizonian who I actually got to meet. That would be this guy:




Gail Gardner sketches

   Quoting from his obit: Gail Irwin Gardner was a true original, a man who left a lasting mark on the community where he was born, raised and spent almost all of his life. By turns he was a scholar, athlete, reluctant storekeeper, cowboy, rancher and postmaster. He also was a mainstay of Prescott’s 'World’s Oldest Rodeo;' a founder and mainstay of the Smoki People; and an original member of the Prescott Corral of Westerners International. But mostly his fame came from his talents as a storyteller and cowboy poet."


   He was born Christmas Day in 1892 and he is probably best remembered for his cowboy poem "Sierry Petes" about tying a knot in the devil's tail.

 I met him in 1985. I was there to draw him for a feature in Arizona Highways, and he told me one tale that stuck with me. And, so I named this painting after the cowboy who told me that story:


Daily Whip Out:

"Gail Gardner at Fart Knocker Flats"



"If people only knew as much about painting as I do, they would never buy my pictures."
—Sir Edwin Henry Landseer

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