"Belle Isle Foot Bridge"

8" x 10" Oil on Panel
$125 Includes Shipping

This is the riverbed on the south side of Belle Isle, in Richmond, VA. The river is the James River. Beyond the riverbed is a foot bridge that connects the James River Park System in south-side Richmond to Belle Isle and beyond that is the Lee Bridge (US-301).

Richmond, as I've mentioned, and the James River in particular, hold a special place in my heart. My dad spent is entire young life on the river growing up in Richmond and I grew up fishing and canoeing the river with my dad and brother.

The river here is quite rocky, and it is possible to rock hop and wade across, but it's also deceptively deep in some spots. The rocks are smooth and slippery and I can distinctly recall the feeling of stepping for a rock, thinking it was only waist deep and getting pulled into the current as I sank to my neck. It's a slightly scary and mysterious feeling to float along in that dark water when you can't see what's below. The best thing to do in that situation is to relax and float feet first until you touch bottom again...

As for the painting, I went with a triadic color scheme (someone's been reading his painting books). The triad (three colors) I chose were viridian green, cadmium orange, and manganese Violette. Using only three colors, you don't get as much color variation or contrast as you do with a full palette, but the goal is unity, which I feel this painting has.

I stayed away from the knives today and I'm thankful for it. This was a nice, quick painting that was fun to paint. I hope you enjoy.

Thanks again to Richmond photographer, Taber Andrew Bain, for the photo.