18 September 2013
I am in Venice, checking up on where I am with my challenges… to paint with the canal water of Venice.
We are in an apartment a few steps from the canal with quite a large landing where we can put out deck chairs. The picture is the view from this landing. This morning I did a 5 rhythm dance on the landing- flow, staccato, chaos, lyrical, stillness. Boats went by, people stopped on the bridge and paused and looked. Perhaps I am a performance artist!
I started sketching a picture of the view, sitting in a deck chair and the English neighbour popped by – we chatted and he said be careful – two outfalls go from this side so the water is definitely not clean. So I went over the bridge to the cleaner side, walked along a little jetty with boats moored along it, then down some steps and collected the water in a cut-away plastic bottle. Then sat on my deck chair and painted the view.
The paper is not that good so the product is no masterpiece, but I am wonderfully happy with the process of sitting, looking, painting, being in the space, being an artist in the space, having people come by and chat neighbourly and feeling part of the community of place.
Sue Stack 