Thursday 28 August 2008

Back on the Bridge


High Level Bridge (work in progress)

Back at the Club today, I decided not to take up the painting of The Gate again. Having tried to get an angle on the building twice now, and finding the result not to my taste, I think I'll write it off for now. Maybe I'm just not a painter of modern buildings

Instead, I spent a happy couple of hours getting this little picture under way. It's a view from the Newcastle end of the Tyne Bridge, looking towards the High Level Bridge with Gateshead beyond, and one of the buildings that cluster underneath the Bridge in the foreground.
I've done a lot of paintings from the Tyne Bridge in my time, but it must be a good ten years since I last did one. Recently I went onto the Bridge to take some reference photographs for a commission for Mrs Sums and while waiting for her to walk over from the Gateshead end, I took one or two other photographs. This painting is based on one of them. It's interesting, to me at least, to see how much my palette has changed over the years. This one, for instance, is one of the earlier series from 1993, A View from the Bridge:



View from the Bridge - The Black Chimney (Oil on board, private collection)

4 comments:

ian gordon said...

This one called "Black Chimney" is a gem. I've been back a couple of times to have a look.

I think one of your strengths is the ability to "use" a photograph without it becoming a distraction. That's easier said than done.

harry bell said...

Thanks, Ian. That ability is something I've tried to maintain in the years I've been working with photographs.

Unknown said...

The lower pic looks like Edinburgh from above Waverley Station

harry bell said...

Ellis -- welcome to the blog. I know the view you mean, but this is definitly Newcastle.