This drawing was originally completed in 2015 when I had no clue about color pencil technique.   In September, 2023, at the encouragement of a friend, I brightened it up with the techniques I have learned over the last 2 years.  He ended up buying the original to add to his collection of barn artwork.
 
A mid-day view of the barn and silo, now part of the Agricultural Heritage Center at the Lohr-McIntosh Farm.
 
This farm sits about 10 minutes from my house (with traffic!).  

In the mid-to-late 1800s, a young George McIntosh came to the Rocky Mountains to improve his health and wealth. He headed to the Pike’s Peak Region by wagon in the spring of 1860 during the height of the gold rush.
 
Colorado’s semi-arid climate immediately helped his asthma.George had many jobs along the Front Range including mining, serving in the Union army during the Civil War, farming and running freight. In 1868, George homesteaded the 160 acre parcel that is now the Agricultural Heritage Center. George married a young widow from Iowa named Amanda Jane (Lee) Noble. They ran a cattle operation and grew feed crops. By 1877, they had four children: Mark, Walter, George Jr., and Minnie.

George Lohr, an early Hygiene postmaster, purchased the original homestead parcel from George McIntosh after marrying George’s daughter, Minnie, in 1899. After the birth of their two sons, Neil R. ‘Shorty’ and Harry Galen, the Lohrs built the 1909 farmhouse on the site of the original log cabin. Like many farms of the time, they raised chickens, pigs and cows for subsistence and sold extras in town. They also raised vegetables and sugar beets which they sold to local canning and sugar companies.
 
AGRICULTURAL HERITAGE CENTER

Comes with an embossed, numbered Certificate of Authenticity.