This building caught my eye when I visited the city of Chariton last year. It is an old, unused grain elevator in disrepair. The afternoon sunlight and shadows were perfect for taking reference photos.

The difference with this piece is the support for the collage. I usually use watercolor paper mounted on foamboard. This time, I bought some Ampersand cradled panels to experiment with the surface. Then I drew a few pencil compositions until I achieved a design I was happy with. My original color scheme was a pale yellow with various warm and cool grays — I always leave room for changing the possibilities with color. I added some red-oranges for interest and complementary blues. I was happy with the result.