Venice lagoon series. Mixed media on paper. © Mari French 2016

I had a creative block after getting back from Venice (see previous post here). Floundering around wondering whether I should be painting inspiration from my holiday or continue with the ongoing saltmarsh coast series. Seems obvious now, but anyway, as suggested by a facebook artist friend I cut up a pile of small pieces of Hannemuhle watercolour paper and decided to just please myself and experiment with whatever medium took my fancy, taking the pressure to perform/produce off and have fun.

To my surprise what emerged was a collection of abstract little jewel-like images in which, without too much effort, I could recognise imagery from my recent experiences of Venice and its lagoon. After a few days of experimenting like this I felt confident enough to work in a similar fashion on larger pieces of watercolour board. As you can see from the images posted below, there’s a lot of splashed about ink (acrylic and Quink), oil pastel, Posca paint pens, inktense stick and acrylic paint.

Palazzo garden

Broken reflections

Depths and shallows

Moonlit canal, Canareggio.

Canalside garden, Canareggio

Mixed media on watercolour board. © Mari French 2016

Around the same time whilst researching Venice’s lagoon online, I was delighted to come across the beautiful and evocative La Venessiana blog/website. Set up by Venetian resident Iris Loredana, it shares seasonal family recipes for Venetian food and perfumes and celebrates the seasons and secret places of the city and lagoon. One post particularly fascinated me, giving little-known (to me) facts and background on the islands of the lagoon and the lagoon itself. For instance, I had no idea that the sea lavender that I love to paint on the north Norfolk coast also grows on some of the quiet lagoon islands (plus many more unexpected and interesting connections and resonances for me between the saltmarshes of Norfolk and Venice). Recommended reading for anyone with an interest in authentic Venice and her environs.

Approaching Mazzorbo. Mixed media on paper. © Mari French 2016