Ponte San Agostin

This is a painting I have done for a step-by-step oil painting demonstration article I have written for Artists & Illustrators magazine, the last of three articles recently commissioned. The article is titled "Combine Shapes Lose Edges" to show how I put into practice the mantras I have stuck to my easel from earlier in the year - "Lose Edges! Join Shapes!" and " It's The Painting Not The Place". There is more about these mantras in posts from earlier in the year on this blog. Actually I think the article could be titled "Design in Painting" as although those mantras are used in this picture my overall focus was giving it a strong "design". By Design I mean that it is a step along from Composition in that Composition is more about where you put things in a hopefully pleasing and interesting way but Design is taking that Composition and adding where and how it is coloured and lit so that at first glance it's the Design that you notice first and then the content. This is putting into practice the second mantra "It's The Painting Not The Place" in that it's the painting itself that is the primary point of doing it and the location is secondary to that. It is not merely an accurate depiction of a location but has become a more subjective and individual response. 
Anybody who has walked the backstreets of Venice at night will have come across a scene like this, deserted streets with just a few lights in the windows above, everything else quiet and peaceful usually lit by a single lamp giving a theatrical lighting to the the crumbling walls and passageways.
"Lose Edges! Join Shapes" was obviously used to combine buildings and having soft edges in the background between the buildings and sky contrasting with the hard edges of the foreground steps etc  which gives it more depth.
Oil on linen 16" x 12".
There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog and of course in a few months time there will be a much more detailed run through in the upcoming article in Artists & Illustrators magazine.