Irene Duma - Landscape Painter

fine artist and educator

Life as an artist

The house with the perfect view

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small pastel painting of house at Quidi Vidi

This is a small gouache and pastel painting of a house with my dream view. It’s at the little fishing village called Quidi Vidi just a 20 minute walk from downtown St. John’s. It’s pronounced kitty vitty, but I have heard many variations including kid-eye vid-eye from a gentleman who grew up in the area.

Yes, I know – how lucky am I that I can walk to 2 fishing villages from my home – Quidi Vidi and the Battery at the foot of Signal Hill.

The house with the perfect view.
5×7 gouache and pastel on watercolour paper.
2017

Twilight ’round the bay

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oil painting of blue twilight on the ocean and house

This spring when the icebergs came to town, I took a ride down the Avalon peninsula on the road known as the Irish Loop. I love driving around just following the roads that look the prettiest. As the sun was setting in Ferryland, it lit up this house and ocean in a strking manner. I take my trusty Canon point and shoot everywhere and snapped some photos. Today I picked this one to paint for day 5 of the 30 in 3o painting challenge.

The weather was gorgeous today so I painted in my backyard. And since there was no rain in sight, I decided to go back to oil painting. I also decided to refresh my oil technique basics first because I felt shaky after neglecting it in favour of doing  pastels. So I rewatched this video by Barry John Rayboud.

I really appreciate this video because it breaks things down into steps that a beginner can really grasp. Painting: it’s all about shapes and values.

Evening stroll on Signal Hill

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Pastel painting of the Signal Hill hike Newfoundland

Being able to walk to Signal Hill and hike the trail that goes around it is one of my fave things about living in the east end of St. John’s. As summer comes to a close, the days get shorter so you may find yourself walking in evening light sooner than you expected. Which could be scary since not all of the path has stairs and handrails to hold on to.

This little pastel 5 x 7 was painted for day 5 of 30 paintings in 30 days.

The most photographed house in Tors Cove

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Tors Cove, Newfoundland

For day 4 of  the  30 in 30 painting challenge, I thought I’d draw bigger and try out my Uart sanded painter. It was also the first time I used one of my smaller paintings for a study.

Today’s lesson is that yes, I think that making smaller studies is a useful exercise. You can work out your composition and colours in advance, and have a plan that you are happy with for going bigger. Pretty cool since sometimes staring at a large empty canvas can be daunting.

By the way, this may actually not be the most photographed house in Tors Cove – it might be the second most photographed house. You see both of the houses everywhere,  in tourist brochures, posters, magazines etc., so when you come across it in real life, it’s like coming across a celebrity. “Wow, it’s that house!”

This trail is a must do if you visit Newfoundland. It’s a beautiful ocean-hugging path on the east coast trail, and there’s a wonderful art gallery and print shop in the village.  With its idyllic view of the ocean and sheep island (they boat the sheep over in the spring where they graze all summer long on the salty grass) Tors Cove is becoming quite a dreamy little artist’s enclave.

 

The view from Torbay beach

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Pastel painting, looking out onto the water at Torbay beach. Today was an absolutely gorgeous day here in St. John’s, so I packed up my pastel kit, and headed for a hike/plein air painting session. And also to complete my painting for day 3 of the  30 in 30 painting challenge.

It took me a while to settle on a spot, but I finally unpacked my sack on a picnic table facing the ocean on Torbay beach, just 20 minutes north of St. John’s.

Plein air is difficult because the light keeps changing. You gotta paint fast or what was bathed in light will soon be in shadow.

It was too beautiful to head home right away, so I explored a few hiking paths and trails before the sun set. Here is my attempt at a selfie – notice how I am wearing the mark of the artist on my forehead. Yes, I am a messy artist.

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Canadian Landscape Painter + Teacher

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