Watercolor Sketch – Covered Bridge
"Bridge In Morning Light"
4″ x 9″
Private Collection
Since it has been non-stop snow here lately it has been hard to get outside for new material. In the case of this small watercolor painting, I went back to my sketch books. Covered bridges are plentiful in Vermont and are painted by many. It can be hard to take on a subject so well explored by artists over time. Most of what is to be said about the subject has been said. That said, I dove in anyway. The watercolor paper chosen for the painting is by Sennelier, a French art supply company known for its fine professional grade watercolor paint. The paper is from a small watercolor block shaped in this long horizontal (or tall vertical) format. The paper itself has a heavy coat of sizing which makes it “slick” – the pigments lie on the surface of the paper rather than becoming absorbed into the paper fibers.
The focus for this work was getting a good composition onto the unusual dimensions of the paper. A long span of covered bridge seemed to be a good fit for the page. Without any particular color scheme in mind, I chose colors that are favorites of mine – cerulean blue, Daniel Smith’s Quinacridone Deep Gold (I blogged about this color in a September post) and Dioxazine Violet. Deep Gold suggests autumn, so the painting depicts the bridge in autumn.
I am always attracted to light effects. Light as it appears early and late in the day is particularly appealing in the way the slanting warm light affects all the surfaces it touches and causes any standing object to cast long shadows. The combination of two cool colors and one very potent warm color suggested a play of light and shadow on the long side of the bridge.
The finished work seems to have captured the look.
Contact me if you have an interest in this or any other paintings on the site. Email me at tc@tonyconner.com or by phone at 802-375-5548.
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