Venetian blinds

I think I need shutters for my eyes. They got a little overloaded in Venice, and it might take a day or three to recover.


I had an idea that on this trip I would sketch and doodle a great deal, however, there's so much to see (and it's all rocking up and down with the motion of the water bus, if you're me) -- that in the end I wandered around in a daze, allowing my camera to do all of the work.

Gondolas near the Rialto (in the background you can see the bridge). Venice was somewhat quieter than we understand it usually is, lucky us, so a lot of the gondolas were parked up while the tourist traffic was slow. I love the black, blue and silver of the prows and the repeated shapes. It's a classic curve.

J. took this photo of the colours of the poles - I'd love to try to include those red and white stripes into a composition in fabric....

Much as Venice is a trove of patterns and ideas, I find that most of them are so rich, so completely decorated, gothic and baroque, that I was looking for quilting ideas in the little corners, where I could focus on one motif or design.


Like this cherub under the landing step of one of the great palaces.


Or this wall sconce, presumably for a massive fat candle, and the plaque of the lion behind. Can you imagine this in candle light?



And how about the designs on these gondola prows in the Naval Museum? (A fantastic place, by the way, if you want to see loads of models and real carved gondolas from the 18/19th centuries).


But finally, I think this was one of my favourites: we took a boat across to the island called the Giudeca, to get away from the tourist souvenir stands. We sat on the edge of the canal and dangled our feet while we ate a picnic of bread, cheese, meat and a bottle of fizzy wine (no-one's driving in Venice!), in front of this fantastic building.



Wouldn't you just love to sing from that balcony, looking out across the water?