I have always wanted to do a series of painting but could never figure out what subject to use. Typically I don’t paint a picture on a whim, there is always a purpose, a reason to paint a particular painting for a particular person. It has to fit the décor or the person, that’s what makes a painting great.
This year I started working on painting for my own home office. While I was researching city skylines, I came across an image of the Brooklyn Bridge. I was reminded of a watercolor print a friend had, and how much I had wanted a copy. I thought, why not create my own version of a Brooklyn Bridge painting? That thought made me interested in doing a series of bridges. In my research on the bridges of the world, I was drawn back to the bridges of NYC. I thought using a similar skyline for the images would help pull the pieces together.
During that same time, I had an opportunity to enter my first art show. The pieces, including the frame, were limited to less than 11 x 14 inches. I thought this would be a great opportunity to define my style of watercolor paintings.
Over the last year, I have been working on getting back to all the different forms of fine art I studied in college. At the same time, I wanted them to stand out so that they would catch the eye of potential buyers at the art show. I started looking at the images of the Queensboro bridge and the Ben Franklin Bridge.
I wanted to make the bridge stand out against the watercolor background, so I incorporated ink. I used a variety of different point thicknesses to define the details of each bridge.