Woodrow’s Barn

Description

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Snow in the Piedmont region of North Carolina has become a rare event. That’s why, when it does snow, I get my camera and hop into my Trailblazer with heated seats and head out to tour the local scenes that I have known all my life.

On March 2, 2009 we were gifted with a beautiful snow followed by a day of bright sunshine and I spent the entire day driving the country roads. I had a ball. A magic moment came when I drove down Craver Road and saw the old Woodrow Zimmerman Barn. The sight of the old red barn and the huge evergreen, with snow clinging to all its branches, and the friendly horses just captured my imagination. I knew right then that I had to save this special moment in a painting.

The horses that live in the old barn now belong to Dean Carter but the original occupants were the cows in the Zimmerman dairy herd. For many years Woodrow along with his father, Julian, and his brother, Russell, milked the cows, bottled the milk and delivered fresh milk daily to a list of customers throughout the Welcome and Arcadia communities and into the city of Lexington including the Coble Dairy.

This is a study of a horse for “Woodrow’s Barn” done to practice technique and form before adding the subject to the actual painting. These small originals are sold in March which is Mini Original Month at the gallery.

Brother Russell was also a school teacher but Woodrow never wanted to be anything but a farmer. He once said, “I just enjoy seeing the soil tilled. I would rather plow than eat when I’m hungry.”

I not only wanted to capture the serene beauty of the old barn in the snow but I also wanted to pay tribute to men like Julian and Russell and Woodrow who were the same kind of hard working, self reliant men who took up muskets and fought with Washington in 1776 to win our country’s independence.

Pay close attention to the many details of the painting beginning with inside the barn. Secondly, since bluebirds do not migrate for the winter they make use of their bird boxes for warmth during the cold months. Look closely and you will see a bluebird perched outside his bird house. You will also enjoy looking as well for the hidden hummingbird in the painting.

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