Home of the Gondolas

My Italian painting partner (Kelly Medford, who lives in Rome) took a short visit up to Venice last week...(Kelly, I'm so jealous that you can just hop on a train and visit Venice!)

While she was there, she had the opportunity to visit a gondola shop (!) where she painted this unique spot.

The Gondola Yard, Squero di San Trovaso

9x12"

oil on paper

©Kelly Medford

Kelly wrote about this experience on her own blog (which you should check out and sign up to receive her great posts).  When Kelly paints a particular spot, you get the added pleasure of reading all about the history and insights that she gleans from the people that live and work wherever she's chosen to paint for the day.  Kelly wrote this about the Gondola Yard:

If you have not seen this place, it's such an odd jewel on the corner of a canal next to the church in San Trovaso. It's odd because it is built entirely of wood and looks like something straight out of the Dolomites.

 That's because it is.

Traditionally the workers came from the Dolomite region of the Alps and the structure is Tyrolean in style.

This gondola shop was built in the 17th century and is the oldest of the 3 shops of its kind left in the city. Mostly they just repair gondolas rather than make them anymore. There are on average just 350 gondolas on the canals of the city today compared with the 10,000 in the past.

Making a new gondola is a feat and requires 8 different kinds of wood: mahogany, cherry, fir, walnut, oak, elm, larch and lime.

And if you are wondering about the color black, that became...read more by clicking HERE.

Come with me (Helen K. Beacham) and Kelly Medford to paint Venice this October...

Click HERE for details!

Read my latest post HERE.