Madison Bridge

The Ohio River is the border between Indiana and Kentucky.  One of the most scenic and historic towns in Indiana is Madison.  There are a lot of old mansions there.  Each year they have boat races on the river.  I really  love it there.

One night I took my wife there to spend  the night.  We stayed in a hotel at the east end of town up on a hill.  We really didn’t know what it would look like in the daytime.  When we got up in the morning we stepped out on the balcony to see this spectacular scene  —  there was a bridge going over the river to Kentucky.  Mist was rising from the water.  The fall colors were brilliant.

When I painted the scene I did everything from the river and up the hills in  a very pale white, then gently layed in some color to give the misty, foggy feeling.  The bridge was done loosely with faint portrayal of structure.  I painted the river white and put a little reflection in it to make it “wet.”  There is not a lot of detail in the trees or buildings, just a block of color here and there.  The lone car on the road gives life to the picture.