On Composing “Venice World Exposition”

by Richard Ong

The “Venice World Exposition” artwork started its life as a travel destination on my bucket list. Due to global warming and the increase in commercial transport, the problem of flooding has increased in Venice over the years.

I imagined one possible solution to this problem by enclosing the city with a damming wall and building a complex series of aqueducts underneath the city blocks that would recirculate the water of the Adriatic Sea and constantly drain it in the form of a series of waterfalls.

I proceeded to sketch this concept on canvas with my pencil and the idea of a futuristic and steampunk-style city of Venice blossomed into a highly-detailed artwork.

After the sketch, I proceeded to paint the canvas in acrylic. I used Burnt Umber to create the layouts on top of the sketch; it’s the same idea as inking. I then erased any excess pencil marks from the canvas to keep the layouts clean.

I applied the dominant colours of the canvas: Light Blue Violet for the night sky, Rose Pink for the buildings and Light Yellow for all sources of light such as the moon, windows and open doors.

Painting the Venetian Lagoon and waterfalls was an interesting journey. I used Burnt Umber as the underpainting for the water and let it sit for a few days. Burnt Umber is a favourite hue of paint used by many artists to create background and highlights because this dark brownish mixture is compatible with most colours.

My personal reason for using Burnt Umber an underpainting for the water was to give it a darker background at night. After a few days, I layered the water with a Sea Green mixture of 60% Cerulean Blue and 40% Light Yellow. I painted the Sea Green colour in two passes, moving the brush gently over the canvas in a wave-like motion in the direction of the water’s “movement.”

The first pass produced the heavier Sea Green shade, whereas the second pass was done using a diluted mixture of paint. Imagine a stack of three wavy lines comprising of heavy pigment, diluted and heavy.

Finally, after a few days of drying time, a third layer was applied using Titanium White. Just like the Sea Green colour, Titanium White was applied in at least two passes of heavy and diluted shades. On areas where water is perceived to be moving in a great rush, more White was applied. On areas where the lagoon is supposed to be calmer, the White waves were separated farther apart in order to give that part of the water a darker shade of Sea Green.

After the rest of the colours had been applied, the artwork was photographed using natural afternoon light near a window. The choice of light to use is essential in generating the mood of the final form. Yellow incandescent light can produce a warmer image, but for this particular painting, I wanted a bright and uplifting mood, hence the natural light to help retain the original hues of the paint.

Richard Ong
January 17, 2023