Dave and I like to go for drives around Elgin County country side whenever we can. We always have our camera ready. I try to paint every day and every day I see something new, in a different light or a different season. My Life will not be long enough to paint all that I love here in the country side of Elgin County. In October of 2008 we were driving back from east Elgin, taking the back roads. We were on the road to the St. Thomas Golf and Country Club. We followed the curves and there on the south west side was this barn. The fields were dull browns and harvest gold but the old barn shone a myriad of brilliant, dappled calico colours in the golden sunlight. Shades of red oxide, scarlet, alizarin crimson, magnesium blue, inky Paynes grey and raw sienna. Who knew rusted steel could look so good? I loved the texture of the harvested fields and the leafless sumacs. Old barns are disappearing at an alarming rate. It is my mission in life to preserve our vanishing, ever changing rural landscape for the next generation to appreciate.