VIRTUALLY VISITING VENICE

The Virtual Paintout site for December is Venice, the city built on water.  Through the ingenuity of Google Street View, the location is now available to explore.  

Virtual visitors are able to walk the streets, cross the bridges, ride the boats, peek in shop windows and wander down almost every alley.

The whole city is an artist’s dream. Picturesque views were everywhere.  So it took a while for me to come up with three watercolors to submit to the Virtual Paintout blog site.

My first choice was a view across the Grand Canal looking toward an island and the San Giorgio Maggiore Church.

Google Street View captured this location with the morning sun and soft shadows left by the mist in the air.  I moved a gondolier from another angle into the scene to add a little interest.

Next I “rode” a gondola down a canal under the famous “Bridge of Sighs.”

 On the other side of the bridge was this picturesque scene.

My third choice was from an open plaza where a variety of kiosks were set up to sell items to the crowds.

“Art for Sale” gave me an opportunity to paint a painting of paintings.

As I said, only three entries are allowed in the Virtual Paintout but I spent hours exploring the city and finally painted one more just for fun.

I call this “Tourist Trade” mostly because my impression of Venice was this beautiful city is trading its magnificence for the cash brought in by thousands of visitors.  I found the streets crowded, the shops full of expensive souvenirs, a lack of green space and no children.  It looks like Venice has become a kitschy theme park for swarms of tourists.  Personally I think they could stand to limit the crowds and spend more effort preserving the history.  And, perhaps making the city and its magic at least virtually available is one great step in that direction.

These paintings are going up for sale in my Etsy Shop.  I sold a lot of paintings over the last two months and I need to re-stock the shelves.

Watch how Google Street View photographed Venice