{"id":668380,"date":"2026-05-27T16:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T16:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668380\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T16:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T16:34:11","slug":"boulder-artist-sandra-pratts-american-pastoral-series-explores-red-barns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668380\/","title":{"rendered":"Boulder artist Sandra Pratt\u2019s “American Pastoral Series” explores red barns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paint one red barn, and you\u2019ve captured a pretty piece of Midwestern nostalgia. Paint 20, and you\u2019re officially known around the local galleries as \u201cthe person who paints a lot of barns.\u201d But setting out to paint a hundred of them, armed with a palette knife and the unforgiving alla prima technique, makes you Sandra Pratt, a self-taught Boulder painter who is currently 20 canvases deep into a 100-work series called \u201cAmerican Pastoral Series.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pratt grew up in the Midwest, where barns were part of the everyday scenery, before moving to Colorado at age 12. Now a professional painter represented by galleries in Boulder, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Park City, Utah, she has returned to barns throughout her work and has found that collectors respond to them with the same slightly mysterious affection she does.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like other people also like little red barns, and we don\u2019t quite know why,\u201d Pratt said.<\/p>\n

That affection has become the foundation for the \u201cAmerican Pastoral Series,\u201d a planned 100-work collection centered entirely on the red barn. The series returns to the same rural image again and again, across seasons, light conditions and moods. In some paintings, the barn is boxed in by bare winter branches, its red walls cutting through a pale sky and a clutter of browns and grays. In others, it appears beside water, its reflection breaking apart in loose blue and green strokes, or sits beneath a mountain backdrop, its roof edged in snow and its red face pressed against a scrubby Colorado field.<\/p>\n

\"SandraSandra Pratt is a Boulder-based painter working on \u201cAmerican Pastoral Series,\u201d a planned 100-work series centered on red barns. (Sandra Pratt\/Courtesy photo)<\/p>\n

Across the series, the barn becomes the closest thing the paintings have to a main character \u2014 bright, nostalgic and somehow still charming, even after its 20th appearance.<\/p>\n

The red barn carries a weight of national mythology, though its origins are more practical<\/a>. In the 1800s, farmers needed affordable ways to protect wooden barns from weather, rot and insects. Mixtures using ingredients such as linseed oil and iron oxide helped seal the wood and produced the red color that later became one of the most recognizable sights in the American countryside, according to Washington State\u2019s Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.<\/p>\n

The barn paintings are small in some cases, larger in others, but they share a physical directness. Pratt works exclusively alla prima, an Italian term for a painting completed in a single sitting, with each layer of wet paint applied directly on top of the last. Traditional oil painters return to a canvas after each layer dries to refine and correct, sometimes waiting days or weeks between sessions. Pratt, rather, finishes her paintings within hours.<\/p>\n

Pratt also works with a palette knife instead of a brush \u2014 meaning she mixes color on the palette, then applies it in deliberate strokes that hold their shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a palette knife painter, you really need to understand how to mix color and how to apply it all at once,\u201d Pratt said. \u201cYou are mixing on your palette and then applying this beautiful one stroke to signify what you\u2019re seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series draws from both real places and imagined ones. Locally, Pratt has found inspiration in barns east of town, including those around 63rd Street near Valmont. She also works from memory and photographs, and is also starting to think about traveling for the project, seeking out landscapes and barns in Illinois, California and possibly Maine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really think about it when I started,\u201d she said, \u201cbut now I\u2019m like, maybe I should go and expand and see what else is out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until the show opens, Pratt is posting the works publicly on her website at sandrapratt.com<\/a>, as she completes them. Most of the \u201cAmerican Pastoral\u201d series is expected to be shown at Smith Klein Gallery, 1116 Pearl St, Boulder, this autumn, provided that Pratt keeps painting at a speedy clip.<\/p>\n

We spoke with Pratt about the appeal of red barns, finding inspiration in Boulder County and what happens when an artist commits to looking at a single subject 100 times.<\/p>\n

\""Where\u201cWhere the Light Collects, No. 3,\u201d oil on canvas panel, part of Sandra Pratt\u2019s American Pastoral Series. (Sandra Pratt\/Courtesy photo)<\/p>\n

Q: How did you first come to painting?<\/p>\n

A: I grew up in the Midwest, and barns were just part of the view there. We moved to Colorado when I was about 12 years old, and I just love barns. I think they\u2019re so beautiful.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m self-taught. I came into painting through childhood, like so many artists, and just started working with brushes and palette knives. Then I really got into palette-knife painting. It\u2019s so exciting and dynamic. You have to make so many decisions all at once, and it\u2019s all very direct.<\/p>\n

Q: What inspired the \u201cAmerican Pastoral Series\u201d?<\/p>\n

A: It\u2019s a very ambitious project, for sure. Red barns are just so beautiful to me, and I always feel like there\u2019s a connection I get with my collectors when I put red barns in my scenes.<\/p>\n

I was like, I\u2019ll just do 100 red barns and see what the response is. I feel like other people also like little red barns, and we don\u2019t quite know why \u2026 I love red as an accent, as well.<\/p>\n

Q: What made you want to commit to one subject for that long?<\/p>\n

A: I felt like I would grow as a painter by committing to this. In my career, I\u2019ve done a lot of barns. I\u2019m kind of known for that, barns with palette knives, and I feel like the red barn, specifically, is very much an American icon in a way.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s going to be harder than I thought. I was like, oh, maybe I should have done 20 or 50. But 100 is like, OK, let\u2019s get actually focused on what we\u2019re doing here.<\/p>\n

Q: You\u2019re 20 paintings in now. Has your understanding of the barn changed?<\/p>\n

A: Yes. I\u2019m looking at different values, and I\u2019m looking at the drawing aspect. Good paintings basically start with the drawing aspect of it.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to do a red barn, there\u2019s a value and a color aspect as well that is very intriguing and exciting. There are all the different ways you can do it. How bright red are you going to go? Are you going to have the sun shining on your subject? There are all sorts of fun decisions.<\/p>\n

Q: Are these barns based on real places, or are they imagined?<\/p>\n

A: Both. Sometimes I will drive by a barn and see it, and sometimes it\u2019s even red, and it\u2019s just like, well, there it is. There\u2019s a painting right there.<\/p>\n

Then sometimes I\u2019ll see another kind of painting in a landscape, and I\u2019ll think, oh, that might be cool, and then kind of work it so it\u2019s a really strong painting.<\/p>\n

Q: Are there Boulder County barns or landscapes that have inspired the series?<\/p>\n

A: There used to be this great barn on Cherryvale Road, but I think they took it down, actually. I do still have pictures. It was a gorgeous barn.<\/p>\n

And 63rd Street, there are some nice barns there, kind of east off of Valmont. Over there, there are some good ones.<\/p>\n

Q: What does your process look like from start to finish?<\/p>\n

A: If I\u2019m doing a plein air painting, which means outside, I will typically set up and first do a pencil drawing, just so I get my drawing absolutely perfect, because if the drawing is bad, the whole painting will be terrible. Then you can\u2019t go back in, right? So you have to nail the drawing.<\/p>\n

Then I maybe do a value study, which is just figuring out where your darks and your lights are, and then focusing on the darkest dark first and the lightest light, because that\u2019s the easiest way to put everything within the picture.<\/p>\n

\""Crimson“Crimson Barn, No.1”, oil on linen panel painting. (Sandra Pratt\/Courtesy photo)<\/p>\n

Then I just start painting. I get my palette knives out, and I think, OK, what\u2019s that color? As a palette-knife painter, you really need to understand how to mix color and how to apply it all at once, so you\u2019re not going back in and making your color muddy. You are mixing on your palette and then applying this beautiful one stroke to signify what you\u2019re seeing.<\/p>\n

Then, when you\u2019re done, you\u2019re at the end of the painting, and it\u2019s like, OK, it\u2019s done. Next painting.<\/p>\n

Q: How long does each painting take?<\/p>\n

A: It depends mostly on the size of my canvas. It can take from like an hour to four hours, start to finish.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m planning on doing some larger-scale ones as well, because there\u2019s such a drama in large paintings. Small ones are fun, too. They\u2019re more free-flowing. Larger paintings take more planning. The composition has to be correct. Everything has to be really good, and then you have to do it on the large scale.<\/p>\n

Q: What has Boulder offered you as an artist?<\/p>\n

A: There\u2019s endless inspiration here. The mountains, the Flatirons, they\u2019re just so beautiful. And there are the barns east of town. There are some really beautiful barns over there.<\/p>\n

I think the art scene is improving and getting better, and I have a wonderful gallery. (Smith Klein has) been there for like 50 years, and they\u2019re such wonderful people. I love being with them.<\/p>\n

As for Boulder, I feel like it\u2019s super easy to just set up anywhere, no problem, and create art. I feel like it\u2019s a very supportive community.<\/p>\n

Q: How has travel shaped your work?<\/p>\n

A: It\u2019s incredibly inspiring. Traveling just takes you out of your box that you\u2019re in, the daily box. When you travel, your mind is expanded. Especially if you\u2019re bringing your paints.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to California in a week to paint on the coast, and that\u2019s going to be nice and different. Something so different takes you out of your daily routine, and then it opens up all these other parts of your creativity.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you have plans to show the series when it\u2019s finished?<\/p>\n

A: At Smith Klein Gallery. We\u2019re going to do a show in autumn, I think, for most of the paintings. Hopefully, it\u2019s done by then, but it might not be. That\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n

Q: Where can people follow the project as it develops?<\/p>\n

A: They\u2019re all on my website. It\u2019s called the \u201cAmerican Pastoral Series,\u201d and they\u2019re all there. I try to post as soon as they happen, so you can see them there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paint one red barn, and you\u2019ve captured a pretty piece of Midwestern nostalgia. Paint 20, and you\u2019re officially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1029,228,226,227,18881,18882,3832,229,88,57629,4142,2558,983,57630,206,7831,3,145309,2628],"class_list":["post-668380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-boulder","tag-boulder-county","tag-colorado","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-friday-magazine","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-longmont","tag-movies","tag-music-and-concerts","tag-news","tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}