Retired Gondola

Venice is one of those places that you hear about all of your life that stirs up visions and thoughts of the "Old World". Upon visiting my first time, I can now say that all the things you hear about Venice are real. It is a wonderful old world city with a twist of the new. The canals, although sometimes stagnant, have a life of their own and add to the charm and mystery that surrounds this inspiring place. As an artist, everywhere I looked I would see something amazing or breath taking wanting to take a picture with the thought of "Some day I will get around to painting that!"

Well, I have started 3 paintings of Venice & Burano and I have finished 2 of the 3. The watercolor above titled Retired Gondola is from a picture taken by my wife on a trip where we took my parents to see the wonderful sights. We stayed in the Dorsorduro district of Venice, which is one of the oldest areas in Venice(to view pictures & tourist information on my wifes blog Stories & Scribbles). We were walking along when we stopped to take a look at this wonderful Gondola that had seen better days. The backdrop and the reflections made this a picture and sight to treasure. This is a watercolor on 140 lb or 300 g/m Arches Watercolor paper using Windsor and Newton watercolor paints. This particular painting was time consuming due to the brick work and it was a challenge to capture what was in the picture, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I am off now to continue working on another painting, but I will soon be back with additional paintings, pictures and thoughts.