FLORENCE, Ala.—What many passersby may overlook on their daily commute along Alabama 20 between Decatur and the Shoals, artist Sam Barnett finds as his inspiration.
Barnett, a Tuscumbia native living in Decatur, takes pictures of barns and sharecropper houses and turns them into paintings, capturing many old buildings that are no longer standing.
“I always loved the landscape of the agricultural culture and the buildings associated with it, these sharecropper houses speak to that,” Barnett said. “A lot of those are disappearing, so I capture them in photographs and paint them.”
Barnett is a landscape architect for GBW Architects. In addition to being a painter, he has recently started a business making khaki pants called KWADL.
The artist picked up painting at Auburn University, where he studied architecture and used watercolors to render projects.
“I can’t decide what I want to be,” Barnett said, laughing. “I tell you what it boils down to, I like the process of design and the approach you take to any project. Even a pair of pants, there is a process involved in creating it. I like the creative side of making things.”
