Green water gate in Venice | Watercolour painting | White frame border by WatercolorWall

About "Green water gate in Venice | Watercolour painting | White frame border"

by WatercolorWall

About the artwork

This handmade watercolour painting of an ancient green water gate in Venice shows my interest in medieval cities and architecture. This work also highlights the urban decay of Venice.
Hand-painted in watercolour, this work consists of many transparent layers superimposed with brush. The colour palette consists of soft pastels, brown earthy and rusty colours and powerful classic green and ultramarine blue pigments.

The painting depicts old elements and rusty window ornaments with colour contrasts showing earthy tones of brick and rust, green tones of door and moss and a mix of Ultramarine and Petrol Blue seawater.
The visible erosion of the crumbling plaster at the bricks, the rusty iron of the ornate lattice ornaments and the bright ultramarine water give the painting the typical Venetian look.

Venice is a very old medieval city built on water. The houses rest on wooden posts driven into the soft ground of the lagoon. Venice has over 175 canals where thousands of boats sail every day. That is why most houses and businesses in Venice have a water gate, so that boats carrying people and goods can easily enter the building.

On a scenic gondola ride, I came across this imposing green door.
The old architecture, decay, earthy colour contrasts and the beautiful details of the woodwork and iron window ornaments appealed to me. I took a picture of it from the gondola.
In my studio, I decided to repaint the photo into an atmospheric watercolour painting.
The original painting is painted at a size of 220x300mm on a 300gsm watercolour paper.
This work is also available without a white border.