Venice Part 1
The next two posts will be about Venice, a place we have returned to many times. We loved it from the first, arriving from the airport on the local water transport at dusk into the Piazza San Marco, then transferring to the #1 Vaporetto, to the Ca’ d’Oro stop, as all the lights of the city came on in the palazzos lining the grand canal. Everything was wonderful! There was so much to explore, the intimate scale of the whole place, walking the streets, the canals, getting lost, the somewhat decaying architecture, visiting museums and historic buildings filled with artwork, reflections in the canals, the incredible inlaid marble floors of the Basilica di San Marco, taking the vaporetto out to Torcello and climbing the church tower there, the ‘watery light’ on the lagoon, visits to Burano and Murano, opera at ‘la Fenice’, the Rialto Market, dinners at local restaurants recommended by our friend Mattia. The turn of every corner a fresh delight.
Fondementa dei Mori, Tinteretto's house, Venice, pastel 22x30
Campiello San Rocco, Venice pastel 22x30
Venice Ghetto, pastel 22x30
On our visit in 2006 I started on a large project with the city of Venice as its theme. It would be a two part project, first a series of paintings, and then a hand printed book with historic text based on Whistler’s time in Venice, illustrated with my lithographs. I would follow Whistler’s path and try to find some of the locations where he made a series of pastel drawings and etchings in the winter and spring of 1869. It was amazing how little had changed since Whistler’s time, and that when I found a spot where he sketched, I could see almost exactly what he looked at when he made his sketch or print so many years earlier. His etchings, however, were reversed in the final prints as he had sketched directly onto prepared plates.
We stayed with Mattia, at Ponte Chiodo, a wonderful small palazzo on a side canal in the Cannaregio district of Venice, not far from the Ca’ d’Oro. This beautifully restored small hotel has original terrazzo floors with murano glass chandeliers, 5 rooms with views over the canals, and a rare garden out back. From our second floor window we watched daily life unfold, we could see two bridges, where every day Venetians travelled back and forth to work or school. We watched nuns heading to church, boats arrive to deliver goods, and take away the garbage.
These three paintings were part of a larger series exhibited at the Roberts Gallery in 2007. These locations were not too far away from where we stayed. I went out each morning, fairly early, I would find a location, make on-site sketches, take a couple of reference photographs, and then walk back to the hotel in time for breakfast of fresh rolls and excellent lattes, made on Mattia’s huge shining espresso machine.