Image of the Week: Woodland Valley Bridge
© Durga Yael Bernhard
Early spring is my favorite time of year to paint. Trees begin to blush with the first buds, creating subtle hues against the muted shades of winter. After a rain, these colors deepen, hinting at purple, red, and orange. These hues can be exaggerated to bring out the feeling of renewed life. This is what inspired me to paint this springtime view of the Esopus Creek, looking downstream toward Phoenicia and Mt. Tremper. Anyone who lives in the area knows this bridge.
This painting may be the only landscape I've done that is a historical record of a place that no longer exists. I used to live right on this stretch of the Esopus at the beginning of Woodland Valley. My back yard dropped down to the water just out of sight on the left side of the painting. For years, the river eroded the steep embankment, tearing chunks of earth away until finally, the Army Corps of Engineers came in and redirected the entire current. It was quite a feat of engineering. In the process, the rock beach in the foreground was eliminated. It is now completely underwater, though the current still passes under the same bridge.
How strange to think that the place where my children and I once collected pebbles no longer exists! Even the bushes in their yellow glory are gone. But the properties on the other side of the water are saved, and the new current is broader and even more spectacular.
I'd like to paint the view from the bridge looking upstream this year, toward Panther Mountain – which still has a heavy snow pack. But the last few days have been warmer, and those subtle springtime hues are just around the bend.
You can see the original of Woodland Valley Bridge at my exhibit of Catskill landscape paintings, Eye on the Mountains, on view through Friday at the Catskill Center's Erpf Gallery in Arkville. [Note: this exhibit took place in 2018]
D Yael Bernhard