Swan Lake, Venice

Medium: Oil on canvas
Techniques: Alla prima, glazing, indirect painting & wipe out
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Description: Walking through Venice I came across this square, drawn to it by the sound of music. In the square standing outside a grand church was a young woman who was performing on wine glasses with water inside, creating the most beautiful resonating pitch. I was of course immediately captivated by the whole scene & was already painting her in my mind. I watched & listened, patiently waiting for her to have an interlude between songs, then went up to her & asked if I could take some photos of her to paint from & told her she played beautifully. She was a very lovely soft spoken woman who told me that she had been playing for 5 years. I let her get back to her music & watched again soaking up every element of the performance. She played Swan Lake & gosh it was beautiful, slow & sparkly pitched version, the sound echoing off of the buildings of the square. I felt as if I could feel & see the music coming from her. During the painting process I let the rhythms of the painting form themselves, I followed the music which turned into the shape of a swan. This painting is my version of capturing sound in a visual manner through brush work, tone, nuances, colour, letting them capture & translate my experience of a wonderful day in Venice into a living breathing piece of art.