Spice It Up With Full Color
If you’ve ever been to Venice and had a few days to spend, chances are you ventured the boat ride out to the colorful island of Burano. Colorful is really an understatement for this magical fairy tale land where every single house is painted in its own unique vibrant way.
Calle della Botte, Burano
12×10″
oil on linen panel
Never have I used so much blue in a painting and really went for it. Giving the full color effect was a happy opportunity for me since you must know how much I love the colors of Italy and how intensified they are under the sun here.Though the island can be brimming with tourists, if you cut down any narrow alley and start to wander you will end up in a little square like this one, which was completely empty.The houses here are simple and have no traces of the Venetian Gothic windows or architecture present on the main island. Historically Burano is known for its handmade lace (called merletto) and fishing.Legend has it that the fisherman’s wives painted their houses these intensely bright colors so that they would find their way home from far out to sea. Other locals joke that the houses are each painted a different color so that a fisherman would know which house was his when returning from a night of drinking.Whatever the case may be, this cheery place seems a world away from the muted and hushed colors of Venice and is more than charming.