A Passage through Venice

I look to nature and my travels through Europe, USA and Asia for inspirations for my paintings. ‘A Passage through Venice’ was painted on location during my painting trip to Venice in Italy.

The city of Venice located in North Eastern Italy in a lagoon on the Adriatic Sea is often dubbed as the ‘City of Canals’. Venice’s construction alone is ingenious: Palazzos and old houses stand on pinewood piles resting on the compressed clay of the lagoon bed, and the most distinguishing feature of this ancient city is its 25 miles of 177 water canals. These illustrious water canals function as roads and are the only means of transporting around the city, besides walking through the maze-like streets. Most locals use the city’s water buses and taxis or their own private boats for transportation. The tourists almost exclusively use the romantic Gondolas. There’s no other city in the world in the 21st century where the word ‘street’ can mean a waterway, and whose identity and history is so inextricably bound up with its lagoon setting.

Venice is my special place and I have spent a significant amount of time painting its lesser known ‘secret’ back canals and off the beaten path narrow winding streets. The beautiful, quiet residential water canal in this piece was in Venice’s sestiere of San Marco where I stayed during my painting trip.