Yesterday, June 19, was the date of the Barnstormers tour, a local event hosted by the Frederick County Landmarks Foundation. Each year the barns in a different part of Frederick County are selected for visitors to tour. The tour fees collected support the FCLF's efforts to preserve the barns, a vestige of our county's agricultural heritage.
Artists are also invited to paint images of the barns en plein air (in the open air). People touring the barns can see the artists in action, and can see the completed paintings at an exhibition at the end of the tour. Yesterday's tour was of the barns close to Frederick City, and the exhibition was at the Schifferstadt Architectural Museum, which is right in Frederick at the Rosemomt Ave. exit of Rt. 15.
Each artist is assigned to a barn which he/she paints a picture of. I was assigned to a unique structure because for the first time the Barnstormers Tour featured a building which was NOT a barn, but a mill. Kelley's Mill sits right next to the Cersville Mansion at the intersection of Rt. 26 and Rt. 194 in Walkersville. Upon arrival at 8:30 am yesterday, I was met by one of the vultures which inhabit the building's top floor. I was immediately struck by all the detail (read junk) in a corner of a garage-like structure attached at a right angle to the mill itself. I focused on this corner because it reminded me of a painting I had created in the alley behind my dad's antique shop in Kensington back in the 70's.
I drew lightly on Arches Watercolor block paper, and then I sprayed the paper with water. I dripped, and spattered very wet acrylic paint. I watched the paint spread, run together, and eventually dry before repeating this procedure. Once I had established some of the local color in this unique and very loose way, I began drawing structural elements and foliage with color Sharpies. The last step was to draw the vultures, one of which I saw at the beginning, and others which came to visit during the middle of my painting session. I worked on this painting from 8:30 am until 1:30 pm.
We had a lot of people touring the barns - not so many at the exhibition. Other artists I know who were there included Deborah Lovelace Richardson, Harry Richardson, Linda Zvolenski, Anne Gibson Snyder, and Donna Timm. My painting is entitled "Vulture's Roost - Kelly's Mill".
