Frost on aging angles
© 2008 Duncan Dwelle
Petersen barn in summer
Each week of the year, each hour of the day, each minute of fog or storm or sun, transforms, for the attentive viewer, everything the eye receives.
Each transformation brings its trademarks - its ephemeral yet unmistakable indications, in shade and shadow, glisten and glare, of where and when the light is falling, and from whence it has come to rest.
This old barn, clinging to its sagging skeleton, echoes the slope of pastured hilltops holding back a scrim of summer fog blushing with barely hidden blue. The verdant guardian oaks have reached their peak summer foliage. Tall meadows of newly browned grass are bent under full heads of seed.
No shadows; all is dry but not yet withered. This is mid-day coastal summer!
© 2006 Duncan Dwelle
Barn in field of mustard
Ten minutes after sunrise, a field of spring mustard flushes brilliantly in flat rays streaking across the Sonoma Valley. Direct sun penetrates the barn’s loft for no more than three minutes, briefly illuminating hundred year old beams and rafters.
While the ridge still stands straight and seemingly intact, slanting doors and loose planks reveal the structure’s arthritic age. A year later, winter storms will have torn away half of the metal roof, leaving old barn bones exposed to unaccustomed weather.
This site on Arnold Road, midway between the western hills and meandering Sonoma creek, endures a constant contest between coastal fog and inland sun. Such struggle ennobles living vines of rich Sonoma wines but destines the long dead fir and redwood of a nineteenth century barn to periodic renewal – or certain demise.
© 2007 Duncan Dwelle
Cow barn
© 2008 Duncan Dwelle
Barn with wings
© 2007 Duncan Dwelle
Broken back
and slumping shouldersShades of powdered cocoa reflect so strongly in the late afternoon sun that this barn evoked in me the scent of fresh baked cake.
I waited nearly two hours for the last direct rays of a bright Autumn day. In the final seconds before gleam climbed off a strip of foreground grass, the near wall’s outward thrust fell into dramatic relief.
As is plain from the broken ridge pole and collapsing roof, this nineteenth century barn may not stand another decade. The door has splintered; soil and weeds drifting down the hill have pinned its foot; outward bending thrust adds a tipsy tilt.
Gravity and time will soon reclaim to the land planks and timbers which once grew from it. Long after nothing remains here but a mounded blackberry patch, friends of the Dehlinger Winery on School Hill Road will remember the distinctive colors and broken form of this simple barn.
© 2008 Duncan Dwelle
Petersen barn in spring
© 2006 Duncan Dwelle
Burbank barn
© 2007 Duncan Dwelle
Barn below Mt. Tam
© 2009 Duncan Dwelle
I which to thank the many property holders in Marin and Sonoma Counties who have given me welcome and generous permission to photograph their lands, buildings, and prospects. These include:
Herbert Burbank, Tom Dehlinger, Glenn Hirooka, Jack Martens, Charlie Matterie, Bonnie & Dennis Merrill, John Ogden, Marilyn Petersen, William Petersen, Lee Reed, Richard Respini, Herb Roche, Mary & Tom Stubbs, Brian Swedberg at Port Sonoma, Frank Tamba, John Taverna, John Thompson.
There are others who, for reasons of their own are not named here. Nonetheless they too receive my gratitude and friendship.