PLEIN AIR ARTISTS
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Barn Smashed
Today we had quite a blow up with a thunderstorm of such strength as I have never seen before. I was told we had a "micro-burst". Several tree limbs came down on our roof and my chimney got damaged. One big one fell across my driveway but missed my truck. Several big ones came down in the backyard and damaged some rhododendrons and blueberry bushes. But worst of all by far, was a large oak tree was blown over crashing down on the barn of my neighbor James. This is the building on the right of three outbuildings he has on the crest of the hill, and the subject of many paintings and pastels in recent years.
When I first met James as he was moving in, he told me his plans to tear down the buildings and put up some newer structures. I told him that I hoped it was not going to happen too soon, since I liked the rustic way they looked, always looking different in the profile they presented on the hill. So I soon after did a watercolor of them, then about a year later I gave it to him as a Christmas gift. This prompted another watercolor, and then a pastel. Then I began a series of three pastels that I framed as a triptych. Then as the seasons changed I kept doing the barns. Recently, after starting pleinairartists.ning.com and getting very jacked-up to paint on location in oils, did two plein air oil paintings of James's barns.
Maybe tomorrow I will go over an shoot some photos of the mess... or maybe I should do another oil painting. I'll miss the barns, but I am glad I painted them while I had the chance.
When I first met James as he was moving in, he told me his plans to tear down the buildings and put up some newer structures. I told him that I hoped it was not going to happen too soon, since I liked the rustic way they looked, always looking different in the profile they presented on the hill. So I soon after did a watercolor of them, then about a year later I gave it to him as a Christmas gift. This prompted another watercolor, and then a pastel. Then I began a series of three pastels that I framed as a triptych. Then as the seasons changed I kept doing the barns. Recently, after starting pleinairartists.ning.com and getting very jacked-up to paint on location in oils, did two plein air oil paintings of James's barns.
Maybe tomorrow I will go over an shoot some photos of the mess... or maybe I should do another oil painting. I'll miss the barns, but I am glad I painted them while I had the chance.
Views: 6
Tags: barns, oils, pastel, watercolor
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Comment by Gary Gore on June 23, 2009 at 9:39am -
A tragedy but thankfully it wasn't your house that came crashing down. I had a similar situation a few years back when a forest fire destroyed an entire mountain area that I had previously painted. More motivation to get out there and paint!
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Comment by Donald Maier on June 24, 2009 at 1:05am -
Today I braved the heat and mosquitoes and walked down the hill in my backyard and over to my neighbor James's barns to photograph the damaged building. It was simply too hot for me to be out there painting, so these photos will have to do for now. I think I will put together a little video of the barn and some of the paintings of it too.
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Comment by Donald Maier on June 24, 2009 at 1:15am
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Maybe it is not a total loss and he can save most of the building. It won't have the open part on the side that I liked so much but hey, if I can get him to leave it up for a while, then I will still have my subject to paint.
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Comment by Gordon Haas on June 25, 2009 at 12:43pm -
Wow - that must have been quite the storm and glad to hear that no one was hurt. The weather has been crazy this year. Love your paintings of the barns, especially the oil, and like Shelly said, you have a historical record of the barns and they will live on through your art. Best, G
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