Wednesday 3 October 2007

New Venice Series


Vaporetto (1st pass)
Although I have a number of pictures in need of resolving and finishing, I realised recently that there's a big Figure 8 exhibition next year for which no work has been started.

What I'm hoping to do is make a series about Venice's fabulous water buses, the vaporetti. I've yet to capitalise on the hundreds of photographs I took there last year and this was one of the subjects I was particularly keen on developing.

It's something of a departure for me, in that it places figures squarely in the picture as the most important element. Even if bits of architecture put in an appearance, the figures are what it's about. This being largely untried territory, therefore, it's important that I make a start.
With that in mind, I began this new canvas yesterday. In a further departure from my usual practice, instead of a coloured acrylic ground, I laid down an imprimatura of terra rosa oil paint and before it was entirely dry, began to paint into it. This has produced some nice brushy paintwork which I'd like to retain as the picture develops.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds wonderful! Hope it goes well! I've been enjoying your progress postings and look forward to more.

harry bell said...

Thanks Marja-Leena. I enjoy putting these things up on the blog, even if my readership is a bit thin on the ground these days. At least, like you, they seem to be interested.

Anonymous said...

May I remind you that some of your readers are less thin on the ground than others. And now I shall go and make a comment on today's entry, to make myself spread out a bit. (Any excuse....)

harry bell said...

I'm lost for words.

Anonymous said...

I really like this one of the vaporetto Harry. good abstract shape elements grab your eye; the colour works well, and the feeling I get looking at it is inquistive, which holds my interest. Good painting.

harry bell said...

Oh, I do get worried when someone likes a painting to this extent so early in the game. While the composition is fixed, there may be innumerable changes to the colours. It could end up looking completely different from the way it looks now. Hope you like it just as much then, Sally.