Enjoying Venice

© Sophia Khan

Yesterday, I went to my local art supply shop to buy a new block of Arches paper. There, I found a small landscape oriented watercolor journal that I just fell in love with and had to buy.  My mind thought of all the small landscape studies I could do of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.  (My previous study can be found below, or by clicking here.)

I got up this morning, ran some errands, and happily sat myself down to start having some fun.  I purposefully decided not to use a pencil sketch as I didn't want the paintings to be planned, but more intuitive.  I ended up doing three of the same subject and these are the ones I liked the most.  

I absolutely loved using a small sheet and not worrying about the outcome so much as simply enjoying the process.  I enjoyed every brush stroke from laying the water down for the lagoon to apply wet on wet paint, to working my way upward to the sky and architecture.  I enjoyed figuring out the proportions of the church facade as I painted it.  My favorite moments were finishing off with a slight hint of a dome and campanile.

I feel like the methods I used today were almost a complete opposite of my usual way of painting.  I didn't even mind not using a watercolor block and having the paper slightly buckle before me as it dried.  

Time well spent.