On the Road

Columbia River Bridge watercolor 5" x 11"


From New Mexico I made two road trips out to the west coast. On the second trip I drove my own vehicle, a big Chrysler New Yorker, loaded with a V-8 and leather interior. It made for an enjoyable ride not only for its' comfort, but also for the fact that I could stop, whenever I saw an inviting landscape and take the time to make a drawing or as in this case a watercolor painting of an old, but still usable railroad bridge that straddled the Columbia River.

While heading west through the Columbia Gorge, I came across this scene where the wind had stirred up the river into whitecaps and the old railroad bridge formed a distinctive silhouette against the backdrop of low rolling mountains and a late afternoon summer sky. I spent a good part of a May afternoon here, before heading down the road to a nearby campground.