Irene Duma - Landscape Painter

fine artist and educator

Artwork

Now experimenting with mini ACEO-sized oils

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mini painting of Fort Amherst

Good morning sunshine #1, Fort Amherst.
oil on gessoed paper
2.5 x 3.5

New this week, I’ve decided to try painting mini-sized oils. This is a great way to simplify your paintings by not getting into too much detail. And since I like big, gestural bold brushstrokes, this is a great exercise for me.

This small oil is on 2.5 x 3.5 watercolour paper that was primed with gesso. You need to prime the paper as the oil in the paint may react with the paper over time.

Paintings on paper this size are called ACEOs (Art Card Originals and Editions) or ATCs (artist trading cards) and they are a collectible item.

I am going to be holding an art show soon and think these would make great affordable gifts. Next on my list is to find things to mount these onto. Copper? Wood? Bark? Greeting card? I dunno. I will try it all.

Nothing beats living with original art in your home. I have nothing but originals in mine. Many are kitschy vintage works I picked up from garage sales for a dime, but they are real and I love them.

Oh, and I’m starting a series. This one is called Good Morning Sunshine, and it’s paintings of the mornings here in St. John’s, Newfoundland. With our own special timezone, we are the first to greet the morning in all of North America. I’m not a morning person, but it’s making me want to be one. Kind of.

This painting is from a snap I took of Fort Amherst and its lighthouse on my walk 2 days ago at 9 am. I think that’s the earliest I’ve ever been out on Signal Hill.

Day 21 of #30paintingsin30days

Let’s hippety hop on the path

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Soft pastel art of wooden path on hiking trail

One of the pleasures of hiking the East Coast Trail is that it’s well maintained. If you reach a boggy part, there will usually be a raised wooden path to cross on. Often it’s covered in chicken wire so that you won’t slip.

I never liked hiking in Ontario – hot, humid, too many bugs. I’d rather be in the water. But hiking in Newfoundland is another thing completely. Crazy views. Crazy good workout. And no bugs. Did you hear that? NO BUGS!!!

Painted for day 21 of the 30paintingsin30days art challenge from a photo I took in April. For this one I experimented with an underpainting made by using hard pastels, then dipping a paintbrush in rubbing alcohol and painting over the pastel to blend it. Then I used some high intensity pastel on top when it dried. Pretty fun stuff.

Let’s hippety hop on the path
soft pastel on watercolour paper and gesso
5×7

The view from my stoop

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It was a lazy Sunday, and though I had an early rise (for me) I was slow to get outside to paint. By 3 pm the sun was setting and my backyard was in the shade, so I moved to my front stoop where it was warm and bright. Actually, it was so bright that I couldn’t see my screen. So, I invented plein stoop painting, for us city folk. I grabbed mymy pastels and a little garden knee sponge to sit on (a dollar store find that actually works) and painted what I could see.

This was directly in front of me – the house across the street. It’s a very narrow street.

original pastel art, the house across the street

Meanwhile, right across the street
5×7
Pastel on sanded paper.

And this was when I turned a 1/6th (I didn’t want to stress myself out too much now) turn toward the harbour.

original pastel painting, downtown St. John's

A 1/6th turn of the head
5×7
Pastel on sanded paper.

Day 17, 30paintingsin30days challenge.

I’m painting, I’m painting!

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I have painted every day the last 17  days for the 30paintingsin30days!

I haven’t posted them all though. Haha. There were a few in a row that I didn’t think were blog worthy. So when I got one that was, I was so relieved that blogging just seemed like a frivolous thing to do.

Here is the one I did yesterday for day 16.

 

 

original oil painting by Irene Duma, of the BatteryIt’s a larger 9 x 11.
Sunset in the Battery (aka man I love that view!)
Oil painting on canvas.

PS. This is where I want to live.  In this old fishing village in the narrows of St. John’s. Where even though it’s just a walk from downtown St. John’s, you feel like you are out on the edge of wild wild crazy nature and the sea.

Yes, I want to live here. I want this view! And I want to be near the wild wild energy coming from the sea.

 

Yes, the stairs really do get close to the edge

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Oil painting of stairs hugging the cliffs on the east coast trail

Yes, these are stairs along the East Coast Trail, at Cobbler’s path. And yes, they do get pretty close to the edge. I am proud to say that I did walk down this set to reach the tip. Not bad for someone who has a mild type of acrophobia, or as I prefer to call it, sudden death by falling off a cliff and getting impaled on a jagged rock below.

Painted yesterday for day 1o of #30paintingsin30days!, though I did make a few adjustments today. I find some time away helps you to see things afresh.

Just Come on Down, b’y
oil on canvas board
6 x 9

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Canadian Landscape Painter + Teacher

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