Bridge Connecting Pembroke and Hanover at North River

Historic Marker on Granite Bridge

Set up at North River Bridge Pembroke-Hanover

I set out to paint autumn reflections on water, either by way of a flooded bog or a pond.    I drove by the nearby bogs, but they weren't flooded yet.   I thought about the North River which crosses under Route 53 on the town line between Hanover and Pembroke, MA.  Route 53 had a nice view of the downstream bridge but it was too busy and not safe. We drove to the downstream bridge which was a quieter road, specifically, Washington Street. This bridge was the location of two historic precursors to the current North River Bridge between Pembroke and Hanover and has two historic markers that describe the importance of this area for shipbuilding in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.    Based on the information on the markers, I was imagining a much different feel -industrial - to this very spot back in the post-Colonial era.  On this day it was a beautiful and classic New England river scene.   So it may not always be true that things were stunning and unspoiled back then; they were building ships along here.  In the spirit of living for today, this spot had much to offer a painter, fall color and reflections, still not peak color but lovely nonetheless.

 Bridge Stage Two

The reflections were the most fun.   I built up the distant tree line with muted color and gradually added more color as the river bank got closer.   I marked where the bridge buttresses would be but did not paint in any of the bridge until I had the trees and their reflections completely in.

Once the trees were mostly in with all their color, I used my two inch brush to draw the color from the trees down vertically into the water.   Once these reflections were drawn down, I wiped the brush clean.

Bridge Stage Three

I used the same big brush to apply horizontal strokes across the water.   These wide strokes made the water look like blurred glass.  I used my palette knife to apply skinny strips of light ripples across the blurry water surface.   By placing the pale ripple color running across even the darkest water reflections, it really made the water look glassy.

The last element was the addition of the foreground branches and large leaves that were bright yellow closest to the bridge I was on.

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