Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Sketching and Painting a Kamas Barn

 Some subjects just seem to grab you.  I don't mean a whole genre, but rather a particular subject within a genre.  Anybody that has paid any attention to my art knows I really enjoy rural scenes, scenes that feature old barns in particular. I can't say specifically why I find old barns so appealing but affection for such things seems to be pretty common. There is one barn in particular that has received more of my attention than most others I've seen. 

There is a large, old, seemingly abandoned barn with rusty corrugated metal siding along the Mirror Lake Highway in Kamas Utah.  Kamas is often referred to as the gateway to the High Uinta mountain wilderness area as what is commonly referred to as the "Mirror Lake Highway" originates in the middle of town and leads to a land of lakes, mountains and hiking trails.  Shortly after leaving town on the highway, if you glance over to your right you just might spot this iconic barn.

One summer day in July I stopped at a wide spot on the highway near the barn and got out my sketchbook.

Kamas barn Utah sketch pen watercolor plein air
Kamas Barn Sketch

As you can see I used pen and watercolor to make this sketch, I did it while sitting on a chunk of concrete that was part of piles of it that were dropped there apparently to help retain the road bank as the road elevation was quite a bit higher than the field below at this point.  Prints are available, click on the image.

More recently I did a sketch of this same barn from a different angle in charcoal as part of a 30 day, daily sketch challenge.

kamas barn utah charcoal sketch rural landscape
Kamas Barn Charcoal Sketch

Prints are available, click on the image.

I decided I liked the charcoal sketch enough that I would make a painting of it.

Kamas barn painting acrylic impressionist impressionism rural landscape
"Kamas Barn Study", Acrylic, 9" X 12"

I decided to stick with brushes on this one and use lots of layering to build up texture and color.  I like the result enough that eventually I'll mostly likely paint a larger version. The original painting is available on Etsy, click on the image.

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