Crumbling barn

This falling down barn and sturdy brick Federal period farmhouse just outside of town have caught my eye every one of the hundreds of times I've passed them over the years. I've stopped a couple of times to do quick, furtive sketches, always wanting to spend longer and not feeling comfortable without the owner's permission.

Several weeks ago I advertised my 1974 MGB for sale on Craigslist, with a photo of it sitting behind a portable easel with a half finished watercolor of a barn just up the road. I got an email from someone interested not in buying my car, but having a painting done of his old tobacco barn. Turned out to be from an art bookseller, and the barn and house I've admired for years belong to him and his wife.

So now I have permission. On my way back from the doctor this morning, I decided to stop and spend exactly 15 minutes standing there with pen and sketchbook, then took a few minutes longer on a break from work this afternoon to add some touches of color. The forms and voids emerging as the building decays and falls apart make a fascinating composition of an otherwise simple form. It will be fun to study it and work my way up to a more involved piece.

decaying barn, 11-1/2 x 8, pen and ink with Prismacolor pencils