The Vampire Of Rialto - stage 1

 Seeing as I have an upcoming slot on the 23rd of April on Every Day Original I thought that I would paint another "Vampire Of Venice" for it as I enjoyed painting the last one. This time I have chosen the well-known Rialto Bridge as the location although quite when is more vague as I am going to have it dark with no lights on so that must make this painting set in a time before electric lights... not a good time to encounter a vampire when it's a moonlit night but otherwise dark and mysterious. Like the last one I have come in closer to the face which makes them different to all the previous vampire (Nosferatu) paintings.

This is the tonal underpainting stage using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a brush and rag with a wash of desaturated blue/green over it.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

The Vampire Of San Marco

 So there you are walking around Venice at night as I have done so many times along the dark alleys and squares slightly inebriated from a few glasses of vino rosso and you find yourself walking alongside the Grand Canal. It's a dark night foggy and mysterious, just how I like Venice when all of a sudden a ghostly figure emerges from a narrow alley and turns round to look at you with his burning eyes....

Another in my occasional series of "Vampires Of Venice" I have come in a bit closer this time to the Nosferatu and wanted a creepy atmosphere to this one with just his burning eyes and gaunt face emerging from the darkness. People associate Venice with Romance but I find it a mysterious place particularly at night when it is so quiet and dimly lit and my mind wanders to the idea of the whole city being inhabited by Vampires that each have their own square or canal etc that they prowl under the cover of darkness waiting for an unsuspecting tourist to empty of blood....

 This particular location is impossible by the way as there are no walkways along the Grand Canal in this part of the Sestiere of San Marco....

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

The Vampire Of San Marco - stage 7

 I have pretty much finished the first colour pass on the buildings in the foreground and left it to dry so that I can go all over it tomorrow. I have always seen this area as fairly dark so that the lights in the vampire's eyes really come through so I need a good think about it over tomorrow's breakfast coffee to make final decisions.... planning on having the vampire's face fairly dark too....

The Vampire Of San Marco - stage 6

 Painted in the fog this morning which I am basically happy with barring a few possible tweaks later on. I have made a start on the foreground buildings and stopped here so that I review how it's going over breakfast coffee. I am planning on the foreground being quite dark as I originally intended and have resisted the temptation to make the details more distinct - I want the lights in his eyes to emerge from the darkness for maximum creepiness....

New colours used: Yellow Lake Deep and Naples Yellow.

The Vampire Of San Marco - stage 5

 I realised that I couldn't put the fog in until the water was painted in and in fact I really needed to work on the buildings a bit more so.... the fog goes in tomorrow.

The Vampire Of San Marco - stage 4

 I have kind of overpainted the buildings across the water as I want them to be dark and semi-silhouetted but will have a lot of fog/mist over them soon but I still want some of this detail to be there. Bear with me...

Solo Show

 My solo show "Home Land" opens today at the Abend Gallery, Denver CO comprising 15 symbolic landscape paintings in panoramic format all oil on canvas. All can be seen on previous posts over the past year in this blog.

The Vampire Of San Marco -stage 3

 After giving most of the painting a desaturated blue/green wash I painted the first colour pass on the sky. As the painting is based around a blue/green - red/orange colour complementary I might put in a touch of lemon into the lighter area of the sky - decision will be made over tomorrow's breakfast coffee.

Colours used so far: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Dioxazine Purple, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange and Warm White.

The Vampire Of San Marco - stage 2

 Finished the tonal underpainting ready for a desaturated blue/green wash tomorrow and make a start on the sky. The plan is that the brightest parts of the painting are the moon and the lights in his eyes with everything else fairly dark and foggy so that it looks like as the viewer walks along the canalside pathway a Nosferatu vampire suddenly emerges from a narrow alleyway. I want it be fairly scary... and kind of beautiful as after all it is Venice....

The Vampire Of San Marco - stage 1

 I now have a chance to get some paintings done to take to IX later in the year (if I am able to get them to the USA now tariffs are complicating things) and thought I would paint another in my occasional series of "Vampires Of Venice". I must explain that I find Venice quite a mysterious place particularly at night and on foggy days and do not associate it with romance! I love walking around it at night and due to the age of the city it occurred to me some years ago that the whole place could be inhabited by vampires who each have a certain campo or canal etc that they haunt looking for unsuspecting tourists like me to empty of blood...

This is set in the sestiere of San Marco on the side of the Grand Canal looking towards the Salute - in fact this is impossible as there are no walkways on the side of the Grand Canal in this section of San Marco but hey it's Fantasy right?!

This is halfway through the initial tonal underpainting and didn't have time today to get it all in so I will finish it tomorrow. It uses my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and brush.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".