Painting process | Blue Light, Venice Afternoon

29 Jun

I wanted to paint Venice in a way that is unexpected but still immediately recognisable. This painting is all about unsettling, diffused blue light that comes through on an overcast day and is bounced around by the water.

I was rifling through my archive of painting ideas and came across this one from when I visited Venice for a day 2 years ago. I had made sketches and some notes, but I struggled and ended up shelving it.

But, the more I practice and learn, the more confident I feel to tackle those long-dormant painting ideas. So, this painting is a small victory for me.

You can watch the full time-lapse of this painting by clicking the image above.

Preliminary sketches and studies

I decided to design a diagonal composition where everything of interest is in a diagonal plane from the bottom left-hand corner to the top right.
To then balance this, I chose to place the the gondolier's head smack-bang in the middle of the canvas. This was a bit of a risk, as it breaks a huge rule - to never place anything in the centre of a painting. I was unsure, but I decided to commit to it.

These value studies show how little is needed to show the light in the scene. I pushed the architecture back in the scene by making them three shades lighter than the foreground.

I sped through these colour studies because I was really excited to get started on the final piece. The main thing I was experimenting with was the sky colours. I wasn't sure how blue and purple to go with it.
I love how subdued the painting is while also actually being super colourful.

The painting process

I was careful with the drawing for this painting. There are very few organic shapes in the scene and they call for higher precision to get them right.

Here's the painting with its first layers on. I worked from my colour studies in order to stick with my artistic choices rather than be swayed by reality. This helped me to block it in loosely but accurately.
I particularly like the transition I've already achieved here with the acid green highlights on the water and the dark green shadows.

I wanted to focus detail in the foreground. So, I spent a long time building up layers of blues and greens in the water to create the feeling of ripples and reflected light.
The poles look black here, but I don't paint with black. They're actually a deep blue with green and cobalt blue highlights where the light reflects onto them from the water.

I was slow and deliberate in choosing the edge quality for the architecture and poles. I decided to soften the edges of the architecture quite considerably for atmosphere. For the poles, I alternated between very hard silhouettes and softer edges as if the light from the water is blurring it slightly.
I layered more and more movement into the foreground water ripples to bring a little energy to a very still painting.

Finished!

"Blue Light, Venice Afternoon"

65 × 55cm, oil on linen

I loved creating the unexpected atmosphere in this painting and its almost eerie light. I think the composition choices I made at the beginning worked as I intended, which is a relief.