Chicago water taxi

Here is the painting I am currently working on. It is a view of the water taxi on the Chicago River coming out from under the Lake Street Bridge. This is a view I see everyday on my way home from work. I was inspired to paint this because I love the bright yellow and how it casts a reflection into the water. I also love the way the water splashes up as the boat moves and glistens in the sunlight. Chicago bridges and the old towers are so interesting to me, so I wanted to include that in the painting as well.

The colors are blocked in and I am starting to put in more details. I have been struggling a bit on what to do with the background. Not sure if I want to keep it simple or get more detailed? I am leaning more toward simple shapes because I dont want it to detract from the boat which is my center of interest. Thru trial and error this painting is beginning to take form. Hopefully it will turn out well. If it doesn't, I learned something from it.

I refined the boat and added waves around it to make it look like it was moving. I felt that the vertical lines on the building were taking my eye off the canvas. My solution was to break them up a bit as if there were patches of sunlight hitting the building.

I will probably add a few more touches to the boat but for the most part I am happy with it.

Today I worked on the concrete lamp post to the left of the painting. I want the viewers eye to focus on the boat which is the center of interest. Therefore, I darkened the lamp post as it was to light.

18"x24" acrylic on gallery canvas

I think I am going to call this one done. I added more details into the bridge and tower. The building was looking a bit to abstract for my liking, so I decided to suggest a few windows. A tree was added to the right, to soften the CTA portion of the bridge.

As I was walking past the tower this week I noticed a historical marker with the engraved date 1916. The Lake St. Bridge is one of two movable bridges in Chicago that carry both a CTA train above and 4 lanes of Car traffic below. I find these structures very interesting and I look forward to painting another in the future.