Barbara Brady Venice Inspired Paintings

In the Fall of 2007, I spent a month painting in Venice, Italy, as an Artist in Residence at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica. A city with intense energy and in complete contrast to the rural villages of Maine. Its people are full of life and move with determination. The boats - vaparetto, barge, water taxi or gondola - all dart in and out and across the canals. The water is turbulent, yet a wonderful Lagoon green.

The roads, bridges and underpasses wind throughout Venice and are strictly for foot traffic. To the newcomer, it's easy to get lost, until you realize that hey, you are on an island and you can never really get lost. It's more like you are the mouse in the maze and can't find that hunk of Padano. The calle is the road. It's the artery, filled with people. The Venetians walk quickly and will call out "attenzione" and you better step aside. The rest are tourists, leisurely strolling along looking in shop windows, oblivious to anyone or anything. I was somewhere in between. The ponte (foot bridges) are numerous and arc over the canals. They are a bear when it comes to transporting a suitcase or merchant supplies. The sotoportego is a covered throughway, sometimes very dark, damp and mysterious. These images kept reoccurring in my work.

My time spent in Venice was wonderfully creative and brought a new dimension to my work. I limited my palette and focused on capturing the movement of the city.