One morning I found a piazza that I hadn't been to before. They were having some sort of reunion and by the time I finished this sketch there were a lot of people around, many with small children. When I started it was rather quiet.
I didn't have much time for a sketch this particular morning because I was meeting my brother and sister-in-law. They were leaving on a cruise of the Adriatic the following day. I found a spot near the apartment and did a quick, direct watercolor painting in a small sketchbook.
One of my favorite churches in Venice is La Salute, or actually Santa Maria della Salute. It is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at the Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere. Both last year and this year the exterior is covered for construction work. However the exterior work doesn't diminish the beautiful interior. It was starting to drizzle so I thought I made a wise selection for sketching. I sat on a bench and sketched a portion of the ornate decorations over one of the altars.
I seem to have timed things right because as I was finishing up services were starting at that altar, so I enjoyed the choir and the prayers for a while.
Another day I returned to the same area. I walked down along the Punta della Dogana and sketched the view across the Grand Canal. In the background of the sketch is the San Marco Basillica. (This way I didn't have to sketch the whole thing. lol) This spot on the canal is busy with a vaporetto stop with boats coming and going, many gondolas taking people for rides, and a few Alilaguna boats that travel in the Venetian lagoon taking people to their hotels or to some of the other islands. I used artistic license to leave out a lot of the activity going on there.
