Exchange Street Bridge, Lockport, Ny

This vertical lift bridge spans the Erie Canal in Lockport, NY. It was built in 1915. I imagined it in early morning fog.

Taughgannock Creek Bridge, Route 89, Ithaca, NY

This stone arch bridge was built in 1926. It spans Taughgannock Creek just before it joins Cayuga Lake in Central New York in the Finger Lakes. We drive over it on Route 89 every time we go to Ithaca.

Portage Bridge, Letchworth State Park, NY

The iron and steel trestle bridge was built in 1875. At 820 feet long and 250 feet high it spans the Genesee River above the upper falls. When my husband and daughter and I hiked the distance of the park, we walked out to the center of the trestle! It was scary and I've climbed  many mountains!

Peace Bridge, Buffalo, NY

The Peace Bridge connects Buffalo, NY with Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. I added chop to the water to liven the scene up.

Railroad Bridge, Buffalo, NY 2

This beautiful bridge can be seen from the I-190 in Buffalo. It spans both the water and the road. Even though it is a very large bridge, it seems delicate to me. I imagined it in a golden sunrise and added some movement with the car.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

In writing, a story without character development is called slight. In painting, a painting with only one place for the eye to travel is slight. In this painting the bridge and the interesting sky are on the same picture plane and the foreground is underused. I rushed into painting the feeling of the rainy afternoon with the fading  warm pink glow of the setting sun before I solved all of the design problems. This picture can be saved!
How can I strengthen the design?
 I want to entice the viewer's eye to the foreground with an interesting shape or shapes. I harmonize my paintings  through repeating shapes and colors. I  repeated the triangular shapes of the bridge's trusses in  the large triangular shape of the road and the smaller elongated triangular shape of the  sidewalk.  The irregular cubed shaped buildings repeat the outside shape of the bridge  How can I can add more triangular shapes? It would also help to add some X's. What  is interesting,  triangular that I can put in the foreground to move the viewer's eye around my picture world? The simple solution is to add the reflection of the bridge.
Now I will see if I can make this painting beautiful.

In the final version, I added the reflection. I also darkened the lower corners both to give the illusion of depth and to keep the eye from moving into the corner. I also lightened the background trees to add depth.

A Collection of Bridges

Main Street Bridge, Penn Yan

 16" X 20", oil on canvas

Main Street Bridge, Rochester, NY

 16" X 20", oil on canvas, custom walnut frame

Ford Street Bridge, Rochester, NY 

16"X20", oil on canvas, custom cherry frame

Pont du Rennes Pedestrian Bridge, Rochester, NY

 16" X 20", oil on canvas, spalted maple frame

Stone Arch Walking Bridge, Seven Springs

 16" X20", oil on canvas, custom walnut frame

Railroad Bridge, Rochester High Falls

 11" X 14",  oil on linen canvas, custom walnut frame

My husband creates these beautiful custom frames for my paintings. 

Stone Arch Walking Bridge, Seven Springs

When my aunt lived at Seven Springs, she called it her Golden Pond. I imagined this bridge at dawn and instead the pond wanted to be silvery. I took the liberty of enlarging the pond to make it more atmospheric.

Main Street Bridge, Penn Yan

This beautiful stone arch bridge was built in 1880.  I imagined it just before sunset.