Bob Baker, “Farm House With Compass Plants” (2014)

Bob Baker, Farm House With Compass Plants (2014)

Note: click on image to enlarge

Here’s my painting from today.  This is the farm house at Wolf Road Prairie, right near Wolf Road and 31st Street in Westchester, Illinois, near where I live.  I did several plein air  paintings last summer at Wolf Road Prairie and this summer I’m picking up where I left off.  it’s a cool spot.  The house is surrounded by native prairie compass plants. They’re very interesting plants with deep tap roots — up to fourteen feet.  Condensation forms on the leaves in summer because the plants are cooled by the ground water they soak up.  They have very pretty flowers resembling sunflowers.