One of the hardest parts of doing this series of paintings is choosing which one to do next! I now have over 50 barns, just here in Weathersfield, that I have recorded, photographed and started sketching. The research is coming along, but every book I open leads to more intriguing things to follow up on! I am loving these trips back in time, but it’s hard to come back some times! I get lost in old newspaper pages, or looking at paintings from the 19th century. I imagine a slower, more peaceful time. And then POOF! I’m back in my studio, with Pandora playing tunes and the trucks rumbling down the road outside my window…
This week’s painting is of a farm on Thrasher Road. It is still in pretty good shape, although it appears there are no animals (except for the black kitten that popped its head out of the grass as I took a photo). My research tells me it has been a functioning farm since about 1800 and it was a working dairy up until 1991. It sits right at the base of Mt. Ascutney and the forest is now directly behind the main barn. I chose to add a couple of people to the scene- a farmer taking his products somewhere, and a young woman wheeling straw away for use in the garden, maybe.
The series is growing and I’ll be ready to take all the paintings down to the Inn soon to display them all together in one building. It’s very exciting. Please stay tuned. One more should do it (although I’ll keep creating these. I’m totally hooked!). In the meantime, prints are available at https://canvasworksdesigns.com/project/old-vermont-barn-4-thrasher-road/