"Old Mill Road Light"
12 X 14 Oil on Canvas
Not far from Mission Santa Ynez stands an adobe grist mill that was built in 1820 by a Bostonian named Joseph Chapman. Chapman had travelled here with a pirate named Bouchard. When they arrived here the pirates, along with Chapman, burned down the Ortega Adobe at Rancho De Refugio. Chapman was arrested and tried and sentanced to a firing squad. Eventually Chapman was parolled to Mission Santa Ynez. Chapman was a master builder so he built this grist mill and another duplicate of it at Mission San Gabriel. I occasionally go down to this mill and take pictures. Along the way there stands this old eucalyptus tree with many twisting branches. I like how the morning light played across this tree and cast long shadows across the mill road.
The old grist mill, now a Santa Barbara historical site
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2 comments:
The mix of light and shadows, especially across the grass under the tree, works so well! I love the depth you've given to this scene, and great trees, as usual.
Thanks Matthew. I like this one. That morning light just really ignited this tree along the dirt road...blazing branch highlights and the same on the grasses there. I took a lot of reference photos of the area with this light so I'm sure I will be painting more scenes from this one outing.
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