Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge, Claude Monet 1899
Our second exercise is to create an image of a bridge. You can draw it, paint it, collage it, whatever you want. It can be drawn to look like it is made out of steel, wood, or even a swinging rope bridge. You decide.
Monet's bridge over the water lilies is probably the most well known bridge in the world. A bridge is a wonderful subject. It also can be painted as a metaphor. For example, where are you leaving from? What are you leaving behind? Where and what are you going towards?
Are there any obstacles on the bridge that might make crossing it more difficult. Are you on the bridge or look at it from afar? Are other people on the bridge? What's underneath it? Do you have a history with this bridge?
Here are some more artist paintings of bridges to inspire you...
Path of Gold, Jonas Lie, 1914
Booklyn Bridge, NYC Angela Wakefield
Langlois Bridge at Arles, Vincent van Gogh, 1888
I am beginning a mixed media piece of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It has much history and meaning to me. I have photographed it many many times - on days with clear skies and a view to Alcatraz and on days where the fog has rolled in and you can barely see the car in front of you.
What bridge calls to you? Is it a bridge you know well, made of steel and wood or an imagined bridge?