The Old Barn

A Southern Charming Christmas:

Last week, I introduced the first artwork in my new holiday series called Christmas at Grandpa’s. This week I would like to show you my second artwork called The Old Barn. Click on LT Gallery (Menu at the top of this page) to purchase this 11 x 14 print.

The inspiration for this painting comes from two things: an old car photo similar to one I saw on a Facebook post combined with the backdrop of the actual barn my husband built with his Dad on their farm in West Virginia.

The story of The Old Barn:

When Roger and I first met, he took me to his family reunion the following summer in NC. I got to meet more of his family and hear childhood stories of them growing up on the farm. Times were tough back in those days and life was full of many struggles just to put food on the table and clothes on 7 children. His Dad worked in the coal mines and his Mom passed away when he was 10 years old, so life certainly was full of grief and challenges for his family. He planned to take me to see his childhood home in West Virginia on our return trip where I would meet his best friend, who now owns the property and resides there with his family. It’s not very often that someone can still visit their childhood home 64 years later.

He first took me on some of the smallest back roads of West Virginia that I had ever seen to view some landmarks and the coal mining area his Dad once worked at. I got to see his local post office, what’s left of the general store, the property where his school once stood, the cemetery, and of course, his house and the old barn. Something about this barn stole my attention as he told me a story of him and his Dad building it when he was quite young. All the while, I had the strangest feeling as though I was being watched and a bit distracted. And then the spying eyes revealed themselves to me as I heard a chomping chewing sort of noise coming from behind me. I turned around and there it was above me. A cow! A big beautiful blond cow was staring down at me while we stood below the hill by the barn. I snapped a photo of it to capture the moment, but it’s not every day that you have a cow looking down on you!

We had a nice visit before we left and I have fond memories of that first time seeing the family homestead deep in the backwoods and down in the holler.