Route 3 from Jones Riverbank

Jones River Overpass Stage One

Route 3 is the primary North/South highway that connects Boston and Cape Cod.   When it passes through Kingston, it is actually quite close to the ocean at the outlet of Jones River.   I set up to paint adjacent to the Jones River at a point where the river was flowing toward me, passing under a railroad bridge and winding around a marshy wetland.  The down river view (and the view I eventually painted), passed under a tall Route 3 highway overpass.    Although the spot looked picturesque from all angles, the stunning visual was somewhat contradicted by a constant rumbling of highway traffic, local roadway traffic and an occasional commuter rail.      Once I got into the painting though I hardly noticed anything except my scene.



Jones River Overpass Stage Two

The painting panel was 16 x 20", larger that my usual and preferred 12 x 16".   I found myself including more elements and a larger span of what was a complex scene because of the larger canvas.   More time was needed to rough in the drawing, but once I had the bridge lines in, it was easier to size out the rest of the scene using them for reference. 

As always, things change too quickly when painting en plein air!  Jones River is a tidal river which means its level corresponds to the ocean tides not far downstream.   As the painting progressed the water got lower and lower (and it got buggier and buggier!).   I got a photo reference that matched my painting at this point (and water level) so that I could complete it back in the studio.


Jones River Overpass

The most difficult part of this painting was matching the variety of greens.   There was a distant grove of trees visible just under the overpass and it required a couple of tries before getting a match.   I literally held the loaded brush up next to the element and compare the color.   This direct visual is usually fail-proof, and like most occasions when I use it, I found that the color I mixed was too vivid.   I dulled down the green of these distant trees mixing in a small amount of sky color, which gave it the milky appearance of distant trees.

The overpass and its column was the strongest visual element, but the entire scene beneath the highway that was pristine.   I decided to add a school bus atop the roadway, but changed it to an 18 wheeler, since they seemed to be the more predominant vehicle.    I'm not crazy about this one but I don't quite know why.    

Check out this video if you'd like to see where I was standing.   If you are looking at this blog in email, you may not be able to play it.   It's playable from the actual blog.   I'm thinking that the video it is more exciting than the painting... :)