Description: This charcoal drawing depicts the old barn on a ranch where my data grew up in Red Lodge, Montana. When I took the reference picture for this drawing, the barn was in a significant state of disrepair, giving it a very intriguing character - perfect for a unique piece of art. This subject holds a special place in my heart, as our family would travel from Maine to visit my grandparents at the ranch every few years. It was a beautiful, peaceful place, ripe for exploration and discovery as a little kid. I took the reference photo for this picture the last time I set foot on the property, as the ranch was sold by my grandfather not long after.

This drawing was great practice working in grayscale with a medium that I hadn’t used much in the past. At the same time, this was an opportunity to hone my skills of creating more realistic imagery, compared to other impressionistic and abstract artwork I had been working on at the time. Interesting enough, I had drawn this same barn with charcoal around the age of 8 or 9 (of course, not nearly to the same quality as this drawing).