Crim Dell Bridge is located in a beautiful green leafy glade with a stream that runs through it on the campus of the College of William and Mary where my daughter received her Bachelor’s degree. According to campus lore, two people crossing the bridge while holding hands will be lifelong friends; and if they kiss, lifelong lovers. I painted this for her as a Christmas gift. Incidentally, I told her no kissing on that bridge while she was a student there!

I like the looseness I’ve achieved in the background, but I lost the plot with the dark foreground trees. My problem was with that grouping of three trees on the right. Those trees have a unique intermingling with each other which is a landmark that people recognize about the area and often take photos of, but I tried so hard to depict them so they would be recognizable by people familiar with that campus spot that I overworked them. My daughter is happy with them because they bring back lots of lovely campus memories so I guess that’s what counts in this case.

But I continue to be troubled by how I painted those three trees so I cannot count the painting as successful.

Your thoughts? How would you have handled those three distinctive “landmark” trees? Any other suggestions for my rendering of the scene?

There's a lovely inscription on the bridge which I have included.