Reflections of Venice

Watercolor Painting by Dennis Pendleton. Venice, Italy is a dream place for artists especially watercolorists. The historic old buildings that rise up out of the canals with their reflections in the water are an endless inspiration. For this painting, my attraction was the light and shadow on the handsome facades. To complete the composition I added the gondola with the young gondolier. The red trim on the gondola is the richest color in the painting and it is placed next to the green tree for a complimentary color effect.

Normally I wouldn't use this many hard edges and details but I found all this information irresistible so I counterbalanced it with the simple shapes on the left side of the painting, To capture the light and shadow on the facades, I first painted them with pastel tertiary colors because pure primary colors would have been to rich and command to much attention. You can also see how I used areas of unpainted white paper. After this was dry, I added the cast shadows and you can see the earlier colors showing through. This is important and often missed with a camera which often shows cast shadows too dark. Because of all the details in the facades, I decided to break up the reflections as if there was a gentle breeze. This kept the attention on the facades. The light and shadow on the gondolier is also important. The highlight on his head and shoulders repeats the light and shadow on the facades and identifies him as the focal point.

For the black gondola I mixed burnt sienna with French ultramarine blue and allowed the bottom of the gondola to soften into the water reflection. The same mixture was used for the gondolier's pants and the red in the gondola is venetian red and alizarin crimson. For the water I used the colors of the buildings with a liberal addition of cobalt and mineral violets. The tree is a mixture of olive green and cerulean blue and the wall above it is cobalt violet and yellow ochre. The colors for the facades are lemon yellow, venetian red, and cobalt violet. Cerulean blue and vermillion were used for the cast shadows. The closed wooden shutters are burnt sienna with French ultramarine blue added for the darker parts. This painting reminds me that no matter how crowded Venice gets you can always wander off the the main walkways that direct the tourists and find quiet canals like this one. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton