I've visited Venice twice to paint - the first time in May 2000 (for the Vogalonga race around Venice) and then again in May 2005 (for the Sensa - the annual 'marriage of Venice to the sea').  The first time I visited I became ill and went home without a record of all the images I wanted to remember.  For the second visit, I came equipped with a digital camera and a new 500 mb compact flash card and went home with over 300 images.   Which meant that I was able to check that I had the reference photo to support the sketch - and was able to take endless photos to record how the light changed.

Highlights of my second trip included visiting San Marco at 7.00am on a Sunday morning (see the photo for what this looks like), a fabulous visit to the Fish Market, developing a diptych scene across the Lagoon with 'threatening' skies, listening to classical guitar playing while sketching outside the Friary Church, meeting Livio de Marchi (see right) and viewing his amazing wood sculptures of ordinary artifacts and a long morning sketching San Marco and the people in the Piazza San Marco - and then sketching them again while sitting upstairs in Quadris having a rather expensive lunch.