Matthew Green

Ghost Bridge, Painting, Oil on Canvas

2014

A sunny day in Prague. Clouds move silently over the gentle water of the Vltava river. The bridge was built between 1899 – 1901 and replaced the earlier Francis I Chain Bridge (bui...

Based on a drive-by photo, a young woman crosses a street in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, among the universities, holding one bag while checking the other. :: Painting :: ...

Loosely painted abstract with lots of interesting textures and open space. This painting has nice movement and has a sculptural quality. The main colors are yellow, greens, and whit...

On my trip to Petersburg I visited Peterhof placed in Finnish gulf. I was very impressed by the mystic, uneasy atmosphere of the place that was in sheer contrast to the flamboyant pa...

Artist Comments
Artist Shela Goodman presents a view of an old swinging bridge over a quiet river. The image plays with the viewer's imagination and challenges them with their personal insight. "The wonder of what is on the other side of the tree and what may be in the distance," says Shela. She skillfully balances the relationship between light and shadow to depict the depth and dimensions of the scene.

About the Artist

Words that describe this painting: bridge, landscape, river, tree, fog, mist, riverbank, water, impressionism, oilpaint, perspective, impressionism, nature, oil painting, brown

Bridge Over the River...

"In the series “This is a real place!” I was fascinated by how the underside of the pier at Saint Simons Island, GA was like a readymade collage. The way the pilings and rails divide and frame the spaces between them looks artificially imposed on the scene until you notice the way the waves bounce off the pilings and the railings cast shadows on the water. In some iterations, I chose to simplify the structures of the pier and lighten the values so that it would emphasize the detail in the water. Likewise, I omitted a family of starlings and their droppings in favor of highlighting the geometry of the architecture and the colors and patterns of the water. Making paintings in a series allows me to investigate the results of making different decisions about an image. How I crop or stylize it, the manner in which I apply the paint, what gets included or excluded all add shades of meaning to each piece. Additionally, depictions of the same subject in different weather, seasons, times of day, and tides allows me a deeper understanding. I notice more relationships, colors, and details every time I paint the subject. Every painting is a pile of decisions. Playing with removing more and more details to see what is truly important sometimes improves the painting. The fewer elements you include in an image, the more each one means, and the more important it is to get each thing perfect. At times I like to paint every single detail I can find in a scene, and other times I feel like the unadorned components are sufficient to hold each other in a satisfying composition. I often add simplified shapes to my paintings to highlight the presence of absence or to heighten the importance of each area by creating stark visual contrasts. ⁠The physicality of the paint also plays a role. I used highly textured, thickly applied paint to construct the solid structural elements, and luminous layers of thinly glazed paint for the delicate linework and subtle blending of the water." - Brooke Lanier...

"Secluded Bridge" by Diego Glazer is an original oil painting depicting a serene river bathed in warm afternoon light and shaded by a picturesque bridge. About the Artist: For as l...

This work depicts a serene landscape of the Tablas de Daimiel, (Ciudad Real, Spain) a unique and UNESCO protected wetland, known for being an important passage point for migratory bi...