If you know me and have followed some of my work, you realize that one of my favorite subjects to paint are old utilitarian structures like barns and sheds.  I particularly like the structures that have been around for some time and have begun to sag and show the wear and tear after years of withstanding the abuse of man, beast and the environment.

Having lived in Lancaster County PA for most of my life and having family relatives that had been farmers, I am sure some of my fondness for these structures comes from my childhood when we would visit these farms and make them our playgrounds.  As a child, there is something so fascinating about exploring old barns as you go through the milking parlor, run through the aisle of dairy cows and then head up into the storage areas holding farm equipment and the best of the best....hay bales!!  Playing hide and seek in these structures was just so much fun.

Now, as an adult who enjoys painting them at times, there is a certain nostalgia that I feel every time I see one of these structures in a state of decay and disrepair, slowly succumbing to the relentless forces of nature.  This slow death, if you will, seems to occur piece by piece and one hopes it will be a point in some very distant future the structure may collapse or even be rescued once more by some farmer's band-aid carpentry.  

However, recently, two of the barn structures I painted within the last two years have finally succumbed and fallen into a pile of wood or been pillaged for the timbers that were left.  I experienced a bit of sadness when I just realized the other day the second structure was now gone.  There was nothing significant about the structure and I have no direct experience with it except I photographed and painted it several times.  I realized that the sadness I felt is just another reminder that time waits for no one and decay and change are eternal.  

The thing that makes me somewhat happy, which is the point of this blog entry, is the fact that the barn or shed may be physically gone, but since it has been captured through picture and paint, it is not really gone.  The great thing about capturing something like this in paint is that you, the painter, has a chance to capture and communicate the character, or the feeling, one may have felt when gazing upon the structure.  Through the painting effort, there is the opportunity for the painter to share a moment in time when the structure still stood and maybe remind others of what will be missed.