Landscape, impressionist, barn, rural, farm
Every time we head up north we pass a calico barn. The siding has been patched and repaired many times and the old building wears it’s owners history like a much loved quilt. There was a time when I avoided painting barns. Someone once said to me that to succeed in Door County ( where I display my work) an artist needed to paint the three B’s : barns, birches, and boats. So depicting the ubiquitous Wisconsin barn seemed passé. These days, a drive in rural Wisconsin will make it very clear to the observer that our landmark barns are becoming an “endangered species”. The old barns are falling down.
I now fully appreciate the craftsmanship and community effort that these wonderful structures suggest. Our rustic and rural history lives in the beams and planks of a barn.
My hope is to see the barns preserved. As the family farm is replaced by huge corporate animal production facilities, I see not progress but destruction of family traditions and a way of life.
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