Venice Again

The opportunity to head for Venice happens every now and then, when life stops getting in the way and so it was that, earlier in the month, Sheila and I managed to get a week away.

Whilst not totally a painting trip, Mrs. C likes to do lots of other things besides watching me paint, I did manage to make oil sketches on every day that we were there. I call these sketches as they were done quickly as a means of gleaning information for studio work back home. A couple of early morning forays yielded the most interesting light conditions. one a really colourful sky and the other a soft light prior to some rain.

Surprises abound, not only in the discovery of new corners and meeting new people. One of the latter was a pleasant bit of fortune that had us meeting the wonderful watercolourist, Judi Whitton. Judi has just produced a book titled, "Painting Venice'. On discovering this I contacted her to order a copy, to find that she and her husband, Peter, were also in Venice. We arranged to meet and had a charming morning discussing the city and its joys for the painter. My friend Peter Ward has a review of the book on his blog, watercolourfanatic.blogspot.com

Pete and Judi Whitton

San Giorgio Maggiore - oil on gesso board 7" x 5"

Accademia View misty morning - oil on gesso board 7" x 5"

As ever, the city delighted and we headed home mentally preparing arrangements for our next visit.

A Little bit of Excitement

Or maybe a big bit of excitement. Sheila and her college friends are in the habit of taking a holiday together and after sitting down to consider what I might do in her absence it seemed to me to make sense to get away myself. That decided it only remained to decide on where to go. A trawl around the web sites of the budget air lines informed me that I could fly to Venice for a modest fee. It just remained for me to find some reasonably priced accommodation and the trip became a real possibility. I remembered another painter recommending a place to stay and a quick phone call established availability and cost that rapidly became a booking. So I'm off to Venice for a week with bushes and paints.

Venice is obviously a mecca for painters and some would say overdone by the artistic community but for me it's a place that is impossible to tire of. My visits there in the past have just reinforced my urge to return. On previous visits, since starting to paint, I've had little time to devote to my art so a concerted week's work is a real bonus.

The next job is to select the kit to take with me, check my stocks and sort out any necessary purchases.

Having organised the trip I dug out my photographs from my last visit and got a sudden urge to do a quick watercolour sketch. The result is below.

San Giorgio Maggiore - Watercolour on Not paper 14" x 11"