Falls Park, acrylic on canvas, triptych, 56″ x 20″

I love taking out-of-town visitors to Falls Park in downtown Greenville. Especially first-timers. Most of us have been to cites with beautiful vistas. I grew up in L.A. where, in crisp mid-winter, the snow-capped San Bernardino Mountains form a spectacular backdrop to the city. But I know of few places where a wonderful view exists in the middle of downtown! And, as a visually oriented person, I truly appreciate the foresight and creativity that went into providing the ingenious Liberty Bridge to showcase it all. Falls Park is a great combination of human and natural design.

I wanted to suggest some of this in a painting. I decided to make a triptych combining three seemingly individual paintings—each standing alone as a complete composition—yet joined thematically and sharing compositional links. Reading left to right, the first panel features Reedy Falls flowing diagonally downward toward the center. In the center, the man-made Liberty Bridge sweeps vertically up over the viewer. The right and final panel shows a combination of the park’s engineered nature-scape and the stone Rabbit Trail bridge. Compositionally, this panel echoes the left and thematically recalls both.

Falls Park left panel, Reedy Falls, 20″ x 16″, acrylic on canvas

Falls Park center panel, Liberty Bridge, 16″ x 20″, acrylic on canvas

Falls Park right panel, Rabbit Trail Bridge, 20″ x 16″, acrylic on canvas