Venice trip 2019

This is the view from the Academia Vaporetta stop. The sun shone mid morning and the scene lit up and sparkled. Sadly the spot was a busy landing plstform for a building project and so soon I was asked to remove myself. I did so, however the sun quickly went in and the chance had gone. I finished it on another day when it was a bit gloomy. Thems are the challenges of Plein air painting :-)

This was painted at 6am as the sun rose up behind the Salute. Many other painters assembled on the academia. The view is so powerful and moving I felt like breaking into song with my fellow early risers along side me. It was emotional. I saw a lot of pink as you will notice. As the sun began to bleach out the view, one by one other painters peeled off to another location, return to bed or find well learnt cafe latte! Gradually the next wave of viewers trickled onto Academia bridge clutching cameras and phones. What a special place.

Earlier sketching on first day in Venice from Academia where I met the lovely Vova and his wife...

This was a painting of the Salute from the Dolgas Palace. The exterior of the palace was chock a block with people getting there glimpse of the Bridge of Sighs. I felt myself sighing as one after another, stalls on wheels laden with tourist trinkets were wheeled into the foreground of my painting, slowly obliterating the view. It was time to utilise the Artists license and remove unwanted items from my painting. And, voila ! There gone ! :-)