An Ode to Acrylic Paint

Acrylic paint is the best medium ever. It is bright, thick, and forgiving. It dries quickly and you can simply paint over it. I have some paintings that are five or six layers thick as I continually change or tweek images. Acrylic, I believe is the paint of imagination as it allows the greatest amount of freedom.

This is a painting of two barns on my parents property. The one on the left is very old and on the verge of falling into a pile of rubble. It is also the Birdhouse that I wrote the following peom about.

birdhouse
a row of weathered fence posts
lichen encrusted, moss topped
uneven, tired
a line of rusty barbed wire
u-nails leaving red brown streaks
half hidden amongst the sturdy weeds
yellow yarrow, pale purple tufts thistles
cascading bells of lupine
tall grasses, emerald banners in the low wind

an old dilapidated dutch barn
wards off advancements
beaten by decades, valley rainfalls
washed out planks, whistling gaps
windows warped as if melting into the frames
cracked and shattered pieces lay
strune beside wayward rocks
hinges moan and flake
as resistant doors are dragged open
discarded rural lifestyle
layers of fluffy dust has settled
blanketing remnants of machinery
bits of blue salt block
only cat paw prints disturbing the evenness
searching out mice and voles
cobwebs coated
thickened to chains holding the barn together
pen fences hold only memories
scent of cool soft earth
rotting timbers groan
wooden ladder grimy and worn
rhythmic hand
over hand up to the loft
crumbling irrigation hoses lie coiled through wisps of hay
twine limp and fragile weaves
through the heavy perfume of silage
swirling storms have plucked shingles leaving the roof
a ramshackle checkerboard
residing on top of the cupola, a living weathervane
a great blue heron with its wiry legs
and long crooked neck
watches from its perch
the meandering creeks