Today I painted “Quintessential Curacao” in a concrete bus shelter as Nancy finished her painting at Fort Rif. Through rain and shine, my location provided perfect shelter for a few hours …enough time to complete the piece, and get it varnished, framed and into the gallery! The every-twenty-minute-or-so buzzer/bell to signify the opening of the bridge, along with the spray of several hard rain showers (good thing I’m doing watercolor!), as well as people flowing by speaking a variety of languages (we were near the cruise ship port) are my sensory remembrances of this location.
Later, one of the very few disappointments in my trip to Curacao was not seeing Otrabonda (over the bridge/other
side of the river) and downtown Punda at night, and especially the arches over the footbridge that are lit in bright red and blue, which I saw driving upon departure from the highway bridge to get to the airport at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning. I will be sure to do that next visit!
The walking bridge depicted here in the photo and also in the painting actually shifts 90 degrees periodically to allow boats to pass through, and it connects Punda (Downtown) to Otrabonda (“other side of the bridge” from Punda). This is an amazing feat of engineering!
Wednesday, March 4 (evening)