The farm of the famous writer Carl Sandburg is located forty minutes from my home and is a beautiful drive into the Blue Ridge Mountains. While we visited this pasts spring I took several photo's and sketches and have painted the barns in several different scenes. 
It was a warm spring day when I first saw this farm with the leaves just starting to bud out on the trees. It is really four barns all connected that have been well taken care of throughout the years.
I discovered this farm when I drove my son to a nature park where he had entered an art contest. When we left that afternoon we pulled the car over and I sketched and shot photos till the kids begged to go to MacDonalds to get something to drink.
Finally I've completed this painting and am satisfied enough with it to leave it alone. When we were there the sun was shining bright and the old white clapboards were glistening in its light. I hope I was able to capture that here.
This is yet another study of the same painting I've been working on all week. I can see the shadow side of the building needs to be a little darker, the windows need attention, and above all there needs to be a strong verticle going off the top of the painting. I've considered a light pole or tree limb but I think it's going to be a steeple or bell house. I don't normally feel the need for a verticle in my landscapes but this building is so dominant there is the need for it. I can't take another photo of the finished work untill my wife gets back with the camera from another one of her little trips across the country. 