getting lost in venice

Recently I left the boys in the mountains and hopped on a train to Venice. Just me, my sketchbooks and paints, for 2.5 days of sketching. Well ... not just sketching ... also lots and lots of walking and getting lost.

David and I were last in Venice 20 years ago. I was really blown away by the place, loved every minute of it - it's so very unique. But I wasn't doing any painting back then. So imagine just how perfect Venice is for me now. I love to paint interesting, old, European buildings. And Venice has about 10 lifetimes of these. But it also has a number of other challenges I had to get my head around - boats, water, and people. And they just won't stay still! People you can make a composite of, or cheat a little from memory. But it's pretty annoying when you're half way through a boat and someone moves it! And they do. A lot. It's easy to forget from tranquil looking photos and paintings of Venice that the canals are 'streets' and the boats are 'cars'. There's constant action, and I had to get used to that.

I also had to get used to getting lost. Since I was on my own I made myself a deal I'd be back at the bus stop before dark each night. Of course, I broke it on my very first night. And got lost. Hopelessly lost. You know you're really lost in Venice when you see cars! Luckily some nice young students rescued me and walked me to the bus station. The next day I bought a better map and got lost straight away. So I thought ... that's just how it's going to be. Plenty of spots to sketch, so just I just drew wherever I was.

I do have a bit of 'crowdophobia'. Yes, I know, not the best phobia in Venice. So although I did visit the major sites, I didn't stop to sketch these. There were plenty of quiet spots, so my preference was those.

Below are the 9 sketches I did in the 2.5 days. I'm already looking forward to another visit. And I took heaps of photos ... it just may be that for the first time I'll be inspired to work from photos. We'll see.