Broadway Hit

The Broadway bridge in Portland Oregon is perhaps the most recognizable of the portland bridges, probably for it's red, iron oxide paint job.
This 30" x 40" painting is a commissioned work and will hopefully be on it's way to someones living room soon. I just put the final touches on it this weekend and and waiting for it to dry and will then put some re-touch varnish on it for safe keeping untill it has dried enough for a final varnishing.
Once again, the underpainting (first lines and value study on the canvas) is critical. Urbanscapes need attention to the major lines of perspective or things won't look right. I had to go in and adjust some of the bridge structure after I thought that I was finished. It is probable that you will get a lot of paint down and will then notice that you missed the perspective someplace.
This painting has a foreground (red bridge), a middleground (train station) and a background (tall pink building and the rest of the city. I am learning more about how to create the illusion of depth. I had painted all three levels at the same value, but realized that it need more depth. I glazed over the background elements with a little white, which I then wiped with a rag. This gives an atmospheric haze effect which pushes the scene back. The middle ground elements are painted with less detail, but are still the same value as the foreground.