JERUSALEM, Ohio — Scott Hagan grew up on his family farm in Belmont County, Ohio, but he loved drawing on a canvas rather than drawing milk from a cow.

In 1998, be started out small, drawing signs for small businesses in the area, but not until he painted a well-known mascot did people take notice.

“I gained local notoriety painting sports logos on old barns in our county,” says Hagan, now 39. “My first project was a Chief Wahoo emblem from my favorite team, the Cleveland Indians. My talent was recognized at school, and I was asked to paint the baseball field advertisements and eventually the school mascot on the 50 yard line of our football field.”

But that wasn’t enough. Scott wanted to go big with his work. Really big.

“I wanted to see how big I could draw something and paint it,” he said. “How big could I go, I thought to myself. I was challenging myself to go really big with this painting.”

His father’s barn was his “proving ground,” so to speak. Scott drew the Ohio State University logo, and it covered one end of the barn.

“Then I thought, ‘why not barns?’ ”

And so it was. To this day, he has adorn-ed barns, buildings, silos, schools and gymnasiums. Nothing too large for this modern-day Rembrandt. “I’m the one they call when they want something large or when the surface is unusual,” Hagan said.

“And it surprises many when I use a brush. It’s all by hand, with no vinyl stickers. My ultimate goal is to have completed a project in every state. Right now, I’ve painted barns and the like in 18 states, from California to North Dakota to Florida.”

Hagan says each barn presents its own challenges in size and placement of the logos. Much of his work is done freehand, starting with a carpenter’s crayon and oversized rulers. He utilizes a makeshift scaffold and a few invented tools to make the task easier.

“Some barns can really soak up the paint,” he adds, “but it’s really nice when the barn has a nice base coat to start with. Oftentimes there’s a lot of scraping, priming and applications of a topcoat.”

Most barns, he says, uses three to 15 gallons of paint for the artwork and takes from one to three days to complete.

Some in the area say that Hagan is merely following in the footsteps of fellow Belmont County resident Harley Warrick, the last of the Mail Pouch barn painters. Warrick died in 2000 at the age of 76. “Now, I really have no one to ask questions of or share barn stories with who can truly understand what it takes to create signs on the side of a barn,” Hagan said.

Hagan’s work has been featured in a national video essay entitled “Discoveries…America”, and in such newspapers as the USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

“My artwork is random and it really depends on the client,” he said. “Flags are my favorite subject but sadly I’m a Christian and rarely am I asked to do Christian themes. But on the bright size, I’m very happy to be busy and business has been good.”

Scott can be reached at 55120 New Castle Road, Jerusalem OH 43747 or by phone at 740-926-2445.