Painting the Oak Grove Bridge is anything but simple. After two more hours on the current oil painting of my favorite bridge, it looks like this:

I spend a ton of time sorting out the shapes under the bridge. No one really knows or cares if they are exactly right, so I’m not sure why I spend so much time on them. I think it is so everything will fit. What if I leave out an important rock?

The colors and textures don’t matter at this stage. I just concentrate on getting the proportions and angles right, and try to get close in values (the darks and lights).

Seeing those rocks and parts of water is tricky. The shrubs keep growing and obstructing the views. The water is reflective, so it appears as simply white in places on the photo. 

I’ve stood on the bridge and stared at the rocks and water, and it seems completely different from what is in the photo. I might be a bit simple.

This doesn’t have to be perfect, just believable. I’ve drawn and painted the Oak Grove Bridge so many times that it seems I ought to be able to stop using photos. I can’t. It is possible that I am a bit simple.

Since I find this destructive creature perpetually amusing, I must be a bit simple.