Achieving Depth

Here's another in my series of  paintings of Acadia National Park.  One of the unique features in the park is the carriage roads built by John D. Rockefeller.  The stone bridges are a charming focal point of the roads.  This one is at the northern end of Bubble Pond.

Value, color and overlapping planes help achieve the feeling of depth in this painting.  The distant trees are light and cool, forming a shape with very little texture.  The  nearer trees are well defined and darker silhouettes.  The bridge is overlapped by the birch tree in the foreground.

The pinkish tones of the bridge and the road contrast with the cooler tones of the woods, pushing the structure forward. 

The shadows across the road keep your eyes on the area under and beyond the bridge.  And of course, looking past or through something always helps to  create a feeling of depth.