Blue Morning

Sometimes I imagine cold foggy mornings when trolley cars ruled the city.   Portland has plenty of these days throughout fall and winter – a fairly typical Pacific Northwest event.  I thought it would be fun and maybe a little interesting, to re-create a similar morning seventy years ago.   

One thing was obvious in my research (part of the fun).   SE Morrison and Grand has always been a busy intersection.  I found an old BW photo of this scene (on a sunny day) and went to work to make it a blue day. A few other things are different today.  Morrison Avenue was not ramped (to Grand Ave) before the newer (Morrison) Bridge was built in 1959.   Prior to that – Portland’s first bridge over the Willamette dropped DOWN to the east side industrial area – closer the water.  The Mt Tabor trolley captured here, climbed UP to the intersection.  The building with the Rainier Beer sign still exists today.  Currently it’s the home of the Bithouse Saloon (formerly the East Bank Saloon for us old folk): Bithouse Saloon History  And the historic John Deere Plow Building in the back drop is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  John Deere Plow Building

This painting is a continuation of my work with a palette knife. I’m moving toward a more impressionistic style and there are a lot of layers and texture to this piece.  

 

Acrylic medium on canvas 30” x 48”