For centuries the independent farmer has been the backbone to the growth of this great land.  Passed down from father to son, family farms served the needs of urban America.  Barns, the usual architectural symbol of the independent farm, came in many shapes and sizes designed to suit the needs and use of farm from dairy, chicken, pig and cattle, to crops such as wheat, corn, cotton, and tobacco.  Many of the independents are now gone, the only symbol of their existence, the barns to which I pay homage in this series of watercolors.