The Bridges of Madison County.

Imes Covered Bridge, 1870. Saint Charles, 

The Covered Bridges of Madison County have been the subject of my interest for a while. My husband and I managed to organize and make the time for a road trip to Iowa. We set a full day to visit and sketch the 5 bridges (sadly, one of the six was burnt last year). My challenge would be to finish all the sketches on location. A number I have never attempted before! Ha! 

The 16" x 8" landscape sketchbook worked well to place 2 sketches per page, and of course I had to make space in the lay out to add some of my newly learned brush lettering to identify the slightly different bridges from each other. 

The Holliwell bridge was sketched from a concrete bridge next to it, I wanted to show part of the length, since it is the longest in the area. It was the most challenging of all since I had the afternoon sun right in front of me, but it was nice to see, listen and sketch the swallows flying around their nests under the concrete bridge I was on.

Besides watercolor, I used color pencil and watercolor pencil to add texture here and there......and I liked it. By the third bridge I wanted to quit and skip the last two, but I pushed myself to continue this challenge. I'm so happy I did.....because I enjoyed sketching from dawn to dusk to complete this series.

Inside the bridges you can see all sort of names, dates and messages written all over the walls. I wrote my name in only one of them. Perhaps you could spot it on if you happen to visit the bridges. If you do, please let me know which one was it on!