The Pont d’Aquitaine is a large suspension bridge that carries the ring road across the Garonne river between Bordeaux and its port. At night its two huge towers all but disappear in the inky sky as the lights that align each side of the road mix with the oncoming headlamps and the trail of red tail lights.
On this evening the moon was huge – a so-called harvest moon that dominated the scene. All the lights below echoed its bright roundness in varying smaller forms giving an atmosphere reminiscent of a fairground.
Artist’s note:
This scene seemed to have a certain surreality to it which attracted me to paint it. The cars seemed to be suspended in time as if in some kind of time warp brought about by the moon’s presence.. there was an almost sci-fi feeling to the scene. Several layers of glazing gave depth to the sky and varied shades of the road, whilst thick yellow and white paint allowed the brilliance of the lights to come to the fore.
MediumOil on canvas
