Exploring a residential neighborhood in Venice

We begin each day at our favorite breakfast stop, great Cappuccino, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a warm ham and cheese foccacia so big we split it.

 

Today we explored the neighborhood where the hotel owners live, as they thought we would like the colorful houses and the "regular neighborhood life" not what you see in the tourist areas of this city.

Great fun watching the people come and go by boat instead of cars, small motor boats parallel park in the narrow canals in front of the homes much like we would park our cars on a street in front of our homes.

Two young women a dog and a baby in a stroller climb into the family boat to run errands.

Everything arrives by boat and then gets moved to the home or business by human power.  It seem no one is exempt from hauling things.

In Italy when you purchase a meal you own the table until you ask for the bill.  So here is Sylvia at our table by a canal under the shade of the cafe umbrella where we spent a couple of hours drawing for the price of two delicious Greek salads.

Here is a little ink drawing I did in my journal of the window above the cafe.

End of a great day, listening to a concert in San Marcos Square.

Watercolor Journal Venice Italy

My first entry in my watercolor journal on this trip, the crooked awning and cute windows that over looked the Grand Canal.  Sylvia and I started our day in search of the art store, went in circles, everyone that gave us directions were sure they new where the little street was but it never turned up.  But as we wandered we found many more wonderful photo ops.  We also found a Travel Store and bought our train tickets so even though we never found the art store, it was a fun and fruitful morning.

 

Having given up on the art store we headed for the Realto Bridge as we wanted to paint in the funky neighborhood on the other side of the bridge.  After crossing the bridge we headed away from the tourists along the Grand Canal looking for a place to eat lunch.  We found a lovely restaurant on the Canal with a view of beautiful buildings across the canal.  We had a great lunch and stayed until 5:00pm painting and photographing the activity on the canal.  Here's the little painting I did in my watercolor journal.

Arrived in Venice, Italy

My friend Sylvia Gude and I are spending a few days exploring Venice, trying to capture this very unique city with our camera's and paints. Today is September 1, our first day exploring the city. We awoke to overcast but it soon burned off and we enjoyed a beautiful day taking photos and getting delightfully lost. Street names are hard to find, tiny streets often have no names, so you just go from monument to church to Opera House or whatever, and zigzag through the tiny streets as you go.

Sylvia gets a pat on the head from the fat lady.

This might have to become a painting.

Cool Dude with the Tricted out Gondola!

The Gang's All Here

The Gang's All Here is a whimsical painting created with ink and acrylic on gesso board. I got such a kick out of the way we would be driving down the road and look out at the bush and see nothing and then up pops the head of a giraffe above a tree. A closer look would find more giraffes, camouflaged by the bushes and trees. Their spots blended in with the leaves, their long legs looked like tree trunks , they were easy to miss until their heads popped up to take a bite of leaves out of a tree that was shorter than the giraffe.



I took advantage of the hard smooth surface of Ampersand Gessobord to work in permanent ink and washes of acrylic. It was fun. I think I will try this technique with some other subjects too. The painting is 10" high x 30" long and is for sale at $600. at Barton Gallery, 1723 I Street in Sacramento. The Hot African Nights show is up at the Barton Gallery until September 9. Gallery hours are 3:00pm to 9:00pm. Telephone is 916-443-4025, website http://http://www.sacartz.com/.



I leave to paint in Italy at the end of this week, and will be blogging as I go. To follow our journey type your email address in the subscribe blank on this blog and my posts will be delivered straight to your email.

Masai Mother and Child Watercolor

Kathy Young Ross painted this portrait of a Masai Mother and Child in Kenya from a photo she took of the proud young mother while visiting a Masai Village last summer. See this painting at the Hot African Nights exhibit at The Barton Gallery, 1723 I Street, Sacramento. (916) 443-4024. The show ends September 9, 2008. Please read the poster about the Primary School in Kenya that this show is benefiting and if you can contribute you will be sending a poor child in Kenya to school.