Author Archives: clivelewis

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About clivelewis

Printmaking, primarily engraving.

Why is that barn red?

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A woman came to me at a show, pointed at this engraving and asked why some barns were painted red. I was a bit embarrassed to admit I didn’t know. The search engine DuckDuckGo was most helpful.

Seems that hundreds of years ago (long, long before Home Depot) many farmers would seal the wood on their barns with linseed oil, an orange-coloured oil derived from the seeds of the flax plant. To this oil, they would add a variety of things, most often milk and lime, but also ferrous oxide, or rust. Rust was plentiful on farms and because it killed fungi and mosses that might grow on barns, it was very effective as a sealant. It turned the mixture red in colour and, Voila! a Red Barn.

Barn near Marden, Ontario

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Another of Southern Ontario’s iconic Bank Barns, so named because of the earth banked up on one side as a ramp leading to the second floor. The ground level at the back leads into the stables with the second floor overhanging to give some protection to outside animals. I drive past this one often and wanted to do an engraving and now, having done this small one, I really want to do a large one with much more detail.

Spring surprise!

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Both entries submitted to Insights, a juried show in Southern Ontario, were accepted. Especially nice because there was a lot of very good art in the show.
An extra treat was that one of my submissions was an ink wash painting that I’d worked up from a sketchbook. It was the first painting I’d ever submitted, anywhere….except maybe a cow drawing submitted to a Fall Fair when i was six. I’ve improved over the years :- )