FREMONT, Ohio - Artist Scott Hagan - whose canvas is the sides of barns - says he's had trouble getting used to people asking for his autograph or wanting to take his picture.

        The 25-year-old from Belmont County has spent four years painting “Ohio” in 20-foot-high script on 88 barns, one in each county, to prepare for the Ohio Bicentennial in 2003. He finished the last one - a 133-year-old barn in this northern Ohio town - Thursday.

        “It's kind of strange,” he said. “When we first started, it was people going by and honking. Then they started pulling in and hanging around.”

        Mr. Hagan said he has mixed feelings about finishing.

        “I'm glad in one way; in another way, it's surprising it came this quick,” he said Thursday.

        Mr. Hagan started painting barns out of curiosity.

        “I didn't really mean to get into it,” he said. “I could always draw small things. I kept painting things bigger and bigger. The biggest thing I could find was a barn.”

        His first super-sized painting was an Ohio State University Buckeyes logo on his dad's barn in eastern Ohio.

        When his grandfather took a picture of that painting, members of the state's bicentennial commission spotted it in the local newspaper. Soon after, they asked Mr. Hagan about painting the bicentennial barns.

        The red, white and blue paintings were meant to inspire Ohioans to participate in the statewide celebration. They also were an inexpensive way to advertise the bicentennial, Ohio Bicentennial Commission spokesman Lee Yoakum said.

        But the paintings have turned into somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, complete with fan club, he said.

        “We have the barn groupies ... who like to watch paint dry,” Mr. Yoakum said.

        As well as the autograph seekers, Mr. Hagan said he's also had to adjust to the challenges of painting the barns, some of which were in various states of repair before he started.

        For the first few barns, Mr. Hagan used a business card with the bicentennial logo as a model. Now, he knows the design by heart.

        “Once you do the first 50, you know every curve and angle,” he said.

        Dozens of onlookers in Fremont, some of whom drove more than two hours to the city 33 miles southeast of Toledo, watched Wednesday and Thursday as Mr. Hagan finished the job from a hydraulic lift. The Sandusky County barn was the only one to be painted on the roof instead of on one side.

        Don Croskey, of Killbuck, sat in a canvas fold-up chair under a tree Wednesday, his video camera next to him on a tripod.

        “I didn't want to stand all day, so I thought I'd get comfortable,” Mr. Croskey said. He's taped about 15 barn paintings so far and hopes to film them all over the next six months as part of a documentary for the Holmes County Historical Society.

        Mr. Hagan said he's not worried that his $1,450 payments for each barn are ending. He's already gotten a lot of private work painting company logos and other items, usually on barns, as word got out about his work.

        “Since we've started doing barns, it's really gotten popular,” said Mr. Hagan, who had no formal artistic training. “I think people appreciate the fact that it's not computer-generated.”

        He said he'd like to try painting a water tower or floodwall but thinks he'll stick mostly to barns, because he likes them.

        He'll also do some more work for the state, including a 2003 tour to celebrate his paintings, Mr. Yoakum said.

        “We'd be fools not to bring Scott Hagan back for the bicentennial year,” he said.

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