Santa Croce - stages 1 & 2

Stage 1

This was originally intended to be another Vampire of Venice painting but I decided that the figure which was originally going to be on the bridge would be too small to work with so I thought that it would be nice just to do it as a moody Venice painting. Anybody who has walked around the back streets of Venice at night will recognise this kind of scene, quiet and still, no lights in the windows and the bridge just lit by single light. Stage 1 shows it when I was leaving space for the vampire on the bridge and stage 2 shows it after deciding to leave it out. It will be much darker than this before it's finished!
I'm using the usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin.
Oil on linen 16" x 12".

Stage 2