Mission Walkway,
San Juan Capistrano
Robert Winter, 2004 

Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
24" x 36"

Giclee Print:   $750
On Sheet Canvas, Unframed

Framed Original:   Not currently for sale

Artist's Notes

This is a kind of archetypal California scene.  Not only are the missions themselves an important part of our heritage;  they've also inspired many later generations of our architecture.  Personally, when I look at this scene, I feel like I'm walking somewhere in the Stanford Quadrangle.

I exercised a little artistic license in this painting, both in the purple renderings of the shadows to spice up the contrast with the golden wall tones, and in modifications to some of the elements.  In the actual mission, there's a stone bench projecting out from the pier between the twin arches.  It's such an unusual shape, though, that it would be nearly impossible to render it in a way that didn't look somehow "off"--and even then, people might mistake it for some kind of outdoor washbasin.  I've also strategically placed a pepper tree to the right of the paired arches, where when I photographed the scene, there was only a kind of blackened trunk.

Compositionally, I find the repeating patterns of arches in successive planes especially lyrical.

 

© COPYRIGHT 2004 ROBERT WINTER.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.