A further painting in my series of works towards my Parallel project. This is a composition that I had considered painting for some time but had not done so as I felt unsure whether there was enough in it to make it successful. I intended the focus to be primarily on the bridge and it’s state of decay and unsuitability for purpose. I also liked the idea that it appeared to lead to nowhere. In the photograph that I used for reference these facets seemed evident.

The painting that I completed is less than successful. To me it fails on a number of levels. The colour palette whilst being coherent lacks the subtlety of the photograph. The tonal variations in the photograph are slight whereas my painting is less so. However the main issue is the perspective of the bridge itself which although seeming to work within the painting is wrong. Despite the painting not being of a standard suitable to be considered to be part of my portfolio for Assessment submission I do feel that I learnt some lessons in what not to do whilst painting it.

The painting is shown below.

It seemed a waste of effort not to try and improve this painting so I set about rectifying the area that I felt were disappointing. This included repainting the perspective lines on the bridge and toning down the lines whilst improving some of the highlights. Additionally I made further definition to the grass and reeds and the banks and lastly improved the definition and aerial perspective of the background. Having completed this I am less disappointed with the painting and feel that it stands up to some of my other work.

• Parallel Project