Deception Pass Bridge

9” x 12” watercolor

Back in 2008, I painted this in pastels (see the blog post from 6/20/2008). I sold it a few years ago. I realized lately that I missed the painting. When I found a stack of photos I used to do several pastel paintings, I found the original I took on location. I decided to try it again in watercolor.

Deception Pass Bridge connects the mainland to Whidbey Island at the northern end of the island. It is a beautiful structure, and a well known destination in northwest Washington. 

There are many differences in my pastel and watercolor paintings. There is more detail in the trees in the pastel. The bridge is very similar, except that in the watercolor, I used a liquid mask to keep the color away from the structure. With pastels, I was able to put the lighter elements on top of the darker background. Learning to keep lighter places in a dark background is much more of a challenge with watercolor.