Monday, June 29, 2009

Bridges at Vicksburg


I'm a bridge geek, I admit it, and when I first glimpsed this bridge rising over the Mississippi I was enchanted. It was a beautiful, soft patina green and looked like something from a storybook fantasy. Adding to my joy was the old bridge next door which looked like a Victorian roller coaster. Squeeeee! Bridge heaven!


Process notes:

I struggled with painting the sky due to a yucky brush with too-soft bristles. (Going in the trash, that one.) When it was dry I realized I had left a margin of white around the green bridge. Rather than trying to fix it and ending up with bloom, I opted to just paint the green bridge color to the edge of the sky.


Bridge notes:

The old bridge (the black one) was built in 1930 and closed in 1998 to vehicular and pedestrian traffic, but is still used by the Kansas City Southern Railroad.

The new bridge (the green one) was build in 1973, is 60 feet wide and 13,000 feet long. It carries four lanes of traffic on I-20 and rises 116 feet from the river. It has been repainted white. What a shame.

2 comments:

Br. Jonathan said...

I LOVE that old bridge and would love to see a train crossing it. Wonderful artwork!

I didn't know you were a brige geek too.

Wow.

Speck said...

Just another of my lovable eccentricities.