RSW's Diary Comments

None.

Springfield Republican, Apr. 25, 1928
Click on the HEADLINE to see the whole article

This piece was exhibited at the 1928 J. H. Miller Co. Galleries Exhibition along with 37 other paintings and chalk drawings. Click on the article to the right to see the full article.

This is also an interesting time period for Woodward. He is just getting his career back on track after his disastrous Redgate fire in 1922. He is experimenting quite a bit with new styles, techniques, subjects, as well as putting a great deal of effort into his chalk drawings. Through 1927 to 1928, he would actually draw more pastel paintings than he would paint oil paintings.

A close up the horses pulling the hay cart. They do
not appear to be especially large, however, a typical pull
horse is anywhere from 14 to 16 hands which is 5 feet
to almost 5 and half feet from ground to shoulder.

Note the distant peak on the left hand side of this painting. We wonder if that is Camel's Hump Mountain. If so, this early drawing may be the precursor to other interesting barn subjects such as, Saddleback Barn (1935) and Vermont Barns (1929).

It is not too hard to miss where Woodward offers you some perspective as to the size of this hay barn (*more like a shed wouldn't you say?). In the shadows to the right of the hay cart are two horses dwarfed by the hay pile under the shed.

What is really fascinating about this hay barn is the natural forms of the post holding up the rickety roof. Those are not milled lumber post, nor do we see any mortise and tenon joints. The lumber appears to be strung together by rope.