Plazzo On Grand Canal

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. When you ride a vaporetto, a Venetian public water bus, on the Grand Canal in Venice you pass timeless grand palazzi's and this is one of my favorites. The constant motorized boat traffic on the Grand Canal is damaging to these palazzi's and the Venetian craftsmen are constantly redoing all the buildings, bridges, and walkways. When they finish one it is strikingly handsome and yet still has that old world charm. This one is ready for its makeover and I can only imagine what it will look like when I return to that magnificent city. If it has been renovated I will do another painting to hang beside this one.

The emerald green water in the Grand Canal is constantly moving because of the boat traffic and I painted it with terra verde and cerulean blue plus perylene green. The stone wall which comes up out of the water is different shades of gray mixed with cerulean blue and brilliant orange and the green is a combination of olive and perylene. The crumbling facade was fun to paint with the exposed white stone and stained paint colors. I left unpainted white paper for the exposed stone and for the marble archway around the entrance. The paint is mixtures of yellow ochre, cobalt violet, Indian red, and mineral violet while drips and spattering created the texture. The elaborate windows and balcony, so characteristic of Venice, were painted with the same colors I used in the water and the light gray stone work.

I am always chasing the sunlight when I am painting outdoors or from photo's and you can see how the cast shadows add interest and keep the facade from looking flat. I wanted the lantern to draw the viewers eye into the entrance so I added lemon yellow on top of the burnt sienna and Van Dyke brown. Lemon is very opaque and if you barely add water it will show up over the darker colors. I used a similar idea for the blue iron bars in the window next to the entrance. For the blue to show up over the dark colors I mixed a little opaque white with cerulean blue. Seeing my old photo's of Venice pulls on my heart strings and I am planning my return to that splendid, unforgettable city. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton