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Oil painting of mill surrounded
by autumn foliage.
Limited Edition: 450
One is
impressed with the marriage of beauty and utility when viewing the boulder
strewn stream which powers the mill in this oil painting. Adorned on every
side by colourful fall foliage, the wooden sides of the old mill looked
mellow and strong.
Although my husband and I could
not see the mill in operation the day we visited because its massive mill
stone was being cleaned by the miller, we climbed upstairs to look down
at the wheel and sluice from its topmost window, and to photograph the
fall foliage from another vantage point. Once downstairs again, we sat
for a few moments on the old benches at the back of the mill, and tried
to reflect on what the farmers who sat there many years ago might have
conversed about.
As I sketched the mill for this
oil painting, huge Virginian fishermen sat patiently on the bank, angling
for trout. They had mounded earth across a mountain rivulet, which flowed
just to the right of the oil painting, and kept their catch cool in the
tiny "pond" until they were ready to go home.
Yellow swallowtail butterflies
darted about us, unconscious of their loveliness against the backdrop
of the autumn foliage. The swallowtails, not included in this oil painting,
seemed as common and unheeded by the locals as white cabbage butterflies
are in Ontario. |
