This is one of my favorite paintings I completed during our Venice workshop last spring. I found us the perfect quiet spot to paint with almost no onlookers, however it turned out to be a major thoroughfare for the gondolas. We were serenaded the whole time by various baritone gondolier voices breaking into “Amoré” and curious passengers craning to see what we were painting. It only added to the ambience!

Once I blocked in the background of this piece I started painting the gondola, which was quite a challenge since they didn’t stay still for more than a few seconds. Luckily there was a constant stream of boats so if I waited a little bit, another one would come floating into the scene. Painting moving gondoliers also proved to be difficult, and I was struggling with his hair when right at that moment, a new driver came into view with this great hat and navy scarf wrapped around it. Voilà! Problem solved.

If you’d like to join us for our next painting / photography adventure in Venice this May, e-mail me [email protected]. There are only 2 days left to sign up for this amazing workshop!