An approach to see whether I might be interested in painting a complete one-man show on Venice* arrived as I was thinking about just this sort of themed idea: spending some time getting to know one location and hopefully producing a reasonable number of works. A one-man show was an even bigger proposition and would involve a number of studio paintings as well as plein-air work. Anyway, an initial reconnaissance trip was called for – it was a very long time since I had last been to Venice.
I went in mid-March, the weather surprisingly mild and kind apart from one day which brought rain and freezing cold, and I spent a lot of time walking about to get my bearings. Before I went I had heard mixed reports about what you might call the technical difficulties of painting in Venice these days, quite apart from the obvious problem of the crowds in the more popular areas. Do you need an official permit to do so? If so, where do you get one? Where can you and can’t you set up an easel? In the end I couldn’t get any clear-cut answers so I fell back on common sense, not attempting to use an easel in St Mark’s Square, for example, although I did sketch sitting on the steps there (sitting on the steps – any steps – in Venice is not allowed, by the way, although everyone does it). I did get moved on once quite politely by the police – surprisingly, because although I was using an easel I was tucked well away into a corner, off the main tourist routes, and reckoned I was no trouble to anyone.