Sunset Over Venice

I was watching a documentary about Casanova and for a moment there was some footage of a wondrous sunset over Venice. I thought I might try to paint it and here is the average result.

I searched for photos of Venice's silhouette, printed one off and used it as a basis for this painting. I started filling in the general shapes of the buildings wondering what level of detail I should show. How do you paint distance buildings darkened by the fading light? No I clearly don't know either but I had a try. In the film One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Jack Nicholson said in his usual drawl, "Well....at least I tried." I know how he feels.

I daubed in the bright sun and then added a reflection on the water. I tickled in a little detail on some of the buildings as the sun hit them but not much. Without thinking I kept going and I reached a point where I could have over-painted. I tickled in a few more details when watching television in the dark (had to use a torch - please see photo.) Not many tubes of paint were opened for this: ochre, pink, Naples yellow and burnt umber. I resisted adding a couple of gondolas as that would have been plain naff.

If know someone who loves Venice you may want to buy this for them for £128,226. Every time they looked at it on their wall they'd be propelled to get escape from its clutches and book flights to Venice itself. I'm in a good mood as I beat my record of not cleaning the bed sheets for one decade and four days so I can let this painting go for just £44,000 (I'll throw in the bedsheets which are more arty.)