Painted in February, 2025. 12”x16”. Acrylic on stretched canvas. Price $192.00 Cdn. – unframed.
Growing up on a ranch provides a kid with endless places to explore. Now as an adult, it’s giving my endless references for paintings. Down below our main barnyard is a paddock that my Dad would use for spring lambing. On the West side of the hollow formed by a seasonal creek, is a barn that we called the Sheep Shed. It was a long rectangular barn that easily accommodated our flock of sheep but was otherwise fairly uninteresting. It had no stalls or pens, no tack area, or any other items that generally collect in a barn. Just one big open space. I do remember my brothers and I built a small area up in the rafters for a fort, complete with floor desk and chairs. I often wonder what my Dad thought about these random construction projects that would just appear in various places throughout his serious ranching operation. He was a very chill Dad and probably got a chuckle from it.
One very strong memory I have is a summer when I was around 12 to 14 years of age, where I had to paint this long barn with red oil paint. If you’ve ever painted anything with oil barn paint, you know it eventually gets on everything, is maddenly sticky and smells like petroleum. For one entire summer, I trucked down to that D.G. barn and tried to get as much of the barn painted before the sun got too high and too hot to continue. It was a frustrating project and contributed to a strong desire to go to university and get far away from agriculture as my primary means of living.
Unfortunately, the old Sheep Shed has succumbed to age and gravity. All those carefully painted boards have been removed and the only thing left is the outline of a low concrete foundation. This painting allowed me to think long and hard about that old barn. Although it’s gone, it will continue to hold a lot of memories for me. A building like this is much more than four walls and a roof.
