The Bell Tower

The Bell Tower
Watercolour on Paper
24cm x 34cm (9.5" x 13.5")

Painting views of Venice may not be very original, but there is so much to see there and to paint. Its just a shame about all the tourists.

This is a view of the Campanile di San Marco from the Canale della Guidecca.  I like the mixture of different buildings and trees. Elaine and I stayed in the Molino Stucky Hilton on the island of Guidecca. The views from the boat on the way across to the main island are breathtaking. The hotel is in an old flour factory. If you look across at Guidecca from the main island, it is the large building at the right hand end.

This painting was harder to complete than I anticipated. I keep expecting painting to get easier, but it doesn’t happen. I think my expectations are always a little in advance of my ability so the effort required increases rather than decreases.

Away From the Crowds

 

Away From the Crowds (Parco delle Rimembranze)

Watercolour on Paper
36cm x 26cm (10.25" x 14")

The Parco delle Rimembranze is a peaceful park on the Venetian island of Sant’Elena. Elaine and I visited Venice in October 2009. This painting is based on some photos that I took from the vaporetto as we returned from the island of Burano.

I am not completely happy with the results, but I am challenging myself to try different techniques and subject matters - the results are bound to be a bit mixed.

I first tried this painting at a workshop hosted by Tony Slater (http://www.tonyslater.co.uk/). The subject for the day was Placing Figures within a Painting. Tony offered a lot of useful suggestions about painting figures and then circulated around the group offering people advice on their paintings. He greatly improved the composition of this piece. In my initial drawing, I had a large house towering above the trees. Tony suggested that it distracted the eyes away from the figures and the shadows between the trees, which are the centre of interest. He also suggested painting the dark shadows between the trees as a mixture of different dark colours.

At the end of the day, Tony offered a critique of everyone’s paintings. My original effort was a bit of a mess, but Tony was very encouraging. He pointed out the figures were quite good and this gave me the motivation for this second try. I really focused on the three central figures and the mixture of dark colours in the shadows. These are the bits of the painting that I like the most.