"The Moon is Brighter Since the Barn Burned Down"
Old barns in the vast fields, are the orphans standing sentry on hills
What’s Behind the Making of the Barn Series
After watching his barn burn to the ground, 17th Century samurai and poet Mizuta Masahide wrote the following haiku poem:
“Barn’s burnt down now I can see the moon”
I referenced two beautiful sentiments while working on this series. Each from such different eras in time, which encapsulate the history and prevalence of the barn in our lives. Spanning time from the 17th-century poet, Masahide, to the more modern-day writer, Sandburg.
Old barns sit scattered across our vast country in fields, they are the orphans standing sentry on hills, each with unique stories to be told…if only you stop and listen.
For sixty years the pine lumber barn had held cows, horses, hay, harness, tools, junk amid the prairie winds... and the corn crops came and went, plows and wagon and hands milked, hands husked and harnessed and held the leather reins of horse teams in dust and dog days, in late fall sleet 'til the work was done that fall. And the barn was a witness, stood and saw it all.
“The People, Yes," by Carl Sandburg
Today, most antiquated barns would be too expensive to restore and too old for the modern world to use. Their last hope is to lure, tempt, and entice a random plein air artist or tourist with a camera. Yes, they speak to me from the roadside, each season a different call, and with a new costume, they beckon. Whispering the silent history that lies within their bones.
INTERESTING FACT: In the 1900s, 50% of all Americans were farmers. Today that number is closer to 1.3%. And today’s modern farmers can’t fit their high-powered machinery into an antiquated barn. Hence, newer, cheaper, larger metal structures are built. The agricultural countryside is taking on an industrial park vibe…while the barns of yesterday sit on the flatlands and hillsides waiting for their demise. Folk Art unto themselves.
The barn is a vanishing piece of our Americana history. Given the speediness of air travel, rarely today do families pile into cars for the ultimate road trip through the backlands of our country, and if they do, odds are high that they are on a fast interstate from point A to point B while the family sits with their heads down staring at a device of some sort. These antiquated timbers sit on the backroads waiting for the random admirer to stop and snap a photo.
I love a backroads trip to places unknown. Barns call to me from their hillside perches. Asking me to be ready to stop and take a look.
The Paintings
So my endless fascination with taking photos of barns evolved into painting them on paper and canvas. My photographs cover a swath of the country:
Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Kentucky, Iowa, and Minnesota to mention a few. My hope was to immortalize the beauty of their antiquated timbers that have such a limited time left in the field throughout the countryside.
Most American barns were not painted until the 1700s. Prior to that time, the thoughts on painting a barn was one of an unnecessary expense. It was at this time period the “Red Barn” came to be. Farmers realized they had to protect their investments so they devised a special homemade paint, a mix of skimmed milk, lime, linseed oil, and red iron oxide from the earth. This created a hard and durable plastic-like coating. The oxide held magical properties which preserved the wood from mold and moss growth…and as an added bonus created the unique deep red color. As industrialization took shape, paint manufacturers quickly mimicked the color and produced in mass for the modern barn.
Thus, the American “barn red” was born. So, for those artists out there that are also “mixologists” of their own paints, here is an experiment to play with in your next painting.
The five paintings in this series are all for sale. Click on the PINK buttons under each painting to visit my Etsy Studio for the details.
See you next week with a whole new story and amazing unique art.
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Breathtaking pictures♥️
Beautiful art work and the woven stories.