Several years ago I lived in Venice. I will always have fond memories of the street where I painted this sketch. It is one of the few remaining areas of Venice unaffected by mass tourism where local people live and work much like they always have.
I got to know personally the people in the fruit and veggie stand that was just outside my apartment, the local baker, the butcher, the fish stand vendor, as well as the video rental store owner where I rented videos to learn Italian. The owner was an enthusiastic artistic photographer. Such was daily life on via Garibaldi!
In this painting I tried to capture the life and feeling of the street, using suggestive brushwork, and a contrast of thick and thin passages of paint. There is also a strong notan design here as well.
I used impasto strokes here to create a contrast in the brushwork and to emphasize the focal areas.
Here the surface of the painting was built up using transparent washes, letting the imprimatura show up in a few places. I used an almost neutral blue gray imprimatura created from mars black and phthalo blue mixed with Liquin.
