"Grand Canal Sunset" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 12")

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It is the golden sunset in Venice. Take a gondola and glide along the Grand Canal. We just passed Santa Maria della Salute. Ah, life is good!

"Venice Scuola Grande di San Marco" (oil on stretched canvas; 11" x 14") sold

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Venice is beautiful wherever you look. One of my favorite places in this serenely beautiful city is the Scuola Grande di San Marco. It originally was the home to one of the six major sodalities or Scuole Grandi of Venice. It faces the Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, one of the largest squares in the city. Of course, the square is always packed with people, whom I made disappear magically!

The edifice was built by the Confraternity of San Marco in 1260 to act as its seat. In 1485, however, it was destroyed by a large fire, and rebuilt in the following twenty years. The façade is a masterwork of delicately decorated niches and pilasters and white or polychrome marble statues. It is now a civic hospital.

"Detail from Titian's Ranuccio Farnese" (oil on gessoboard; 10" x 8")

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The painting is the copy of a detail from "Ranuccio Farnese" (1542) by the Italian Renaissance master Titian from Venice. The original hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  It has always been one of my favorite Old Masters' paintings, so when Danni Dawson gave us a grisaille/glazing assignment, I decided to make a copy of a detail from it.

This portrait of twelve-year-old Ranuccio was painted in Venice just after he had been made prior of San Giovanni dei Forlani, an important property belonging to the Knights of Malta. The grandson of Pope Paul III, Ranuccio was the youngest member of one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Italy.

Ranuccio became cardinal of Santa Lucia in Sicily at the age of fifteen, and he was granted several bishoprics before his untimely death at the age of thirty-five. In this perceptive portrait, Titian brilliantly captures the image of a sensitive pubescent boy about to embark upon a very public life.

Collage of My February Paintiings

Collage of My February 2015 Paintings

Another month over, which means the time for another collage.  How do you like the collage of my February 2015 paintings?  My focus of this short month was cityscapes and landscapes.  Which painting is your favorite?

"Venice the Most Serene City" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

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The best way to see Venice is by a gondola.  Hop into a gondola and glide by the famous Basicila di Santa Maria della Salute, on the way to the Piazza San Marco.  The domes of "The Salute" glow in the golden light of late afternoon.  No wonder that Venice is called the Most Serene City!

Step 1: Drawing for "Venice in Late Afternoon"

Step 2: Transparent underpainting

Step 3: The first layer of opaque paints down

Step 4: Time to refine the painting

"Rialto Bridge Dusk" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

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Venice is always beautiful.  At dusk, it becomes breath-takingly ethereal.  Ride a gondola, like the couple in the painting, and glide under the famed Rialto Bridge in the sunset.

The Collage of My October Paintings

The Collage of My October 2014 Paintings

Last month, I slackened a bit due to the ongoing eye trouble, painting only 15 paintings. What can I say?  I am only human.  Which is your favorite painting?

"Venetian Gondolier" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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Venice, one of the most enchanting cities in the world, on a sunny, shimmering day.  Glide on a gondola through the meandering canals.  In Venice, one forgets time and becomes timeless. It's like a dream.