Saint Peter's

Saint Peter's
Watercolour on Paper
25.5cm x 35.5cm (10" x 14")

This porch was built between 1320 and 1340 and the site has been a place of worship for 1300 years.

Our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand parents might have prayed here (assuming an average gap between birth of parent to birth of child of 25 years and knocking off a couple of generations because we weren’t born yesterday).

I’ve been meaning to paint this view for some time because of the interesting shadows on the statue of Saint Peter.

Unfortunately, the statue hasn’t worked particularly well and there are a few other bits that didn’t come out exactly as I planned.

One thing I particularly need to think about is the composition with the large dark shadows in the middle. I’ve painted a number of pictures that have shadowy doorways towards the middle of the piece. Elaine doesn’t like them and I am beginning to see her point of view. I hope there isn’t some repressed shadowy part of my psyche trying to reveal itself.