A Favorite Painting

This is a favorite painting of mine which I have kept in my own collection. It is from a painting trip to Venice a few years ago and it brings back wonderful memories. The strength of the composition is the three simple vertical shapes. The first one is the left half of the painting which includes the building and the dark area of the canal water in shadow. The second shape is the light struck area which slices through the center of the painting from top to bottom and the third shape is the wall and water in shadow on the right which includes the gondola. These three shapes create a direct impact which can be seen from a distance. I used a mixture 0f cobalt violet, yellow ochre, and mineral violet for the water and venetian red, cobalt violet and yellow ochre for the walls. The black gondola is a mixture of burnt umber and ultramarine blue and the highlight is cerulean blue. The swirling water which resulted from a previous gondola adds movement to an otherwise very still painting. Venice seems to have been created for watercolor painters and I remember standing on the bridge that crosses this canal and studying the changing light as it created so many different possibilities for paintings.

“When In Doubt About How To Start A Landscape, Look For The Movement" Vincent Van Gogh

Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton