My Backyard
Thursday, August 12, 2010

Botafogo Cove Sandra Nunes o/c 40x60cm

Posted bySandra Nunes at 8:46 PM 0 comments    

Labels: brazilian artist, oil on canvas, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes

Largo do Boticario 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010

This was the painting I was working on when I was interviewed by brazilian newspaper, Jornal do Brasil

Largo do Boticario Sandra Nunes o/c 54x65cm

Posted bySandra Nunes at 2:39 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Corcovado, cosme velho, laranjeiras, largo do boticario, Old Rio, plein air painting, Sandra Nunes

Featured in Brazilian Newspaper!
Monday, July 26, 2010

Back to Largo do Boticario
I was featured in Brazilian Newspaper- Jornal do Brasil- about preserving the Historic National heritage !
Last week I went back to Largo do Boticario, the same place where I painted a series of plein air studies which were inspiration for the Large Panel I had been comissioned then.
To my disapointment the scenery was completely different.
To my friends who can´t read Portuguese; It is about the need to preserve our architectural heritage and the neglect this Rio de Janeiro hidden gem is suffering...About me and my feelings regarding this situation translated on canvas.

please,click and zoom in to read the article...

Posted bySandra Nunes at 4:20 PM 2 comments    

Labels: brazilian artist, Brazilian Landscapes, jornal do brasil, largo do boticario, Old Rio, plein air painting, Sandra Nunes

Intermezzo
Saturday, July 17, 2010

Well, since my last post, a lot have been happening. Life is not linear What to post now? Where to start? I´m back from a trip to the old world where I could meet again some of my favorite Masters.No modern reproduction comes close to the impact of an original painting, not only colors, but brushstrokes, line drawing...
Altogether with the scenery,people, smells, sounds from these countries all the impressions are recorded in my soul, no photo will tell the truth of my eyes.
I must paint it, stay tuned!
Meanwhile,one of my paintings was selected for a group show about Rio de Janeiro Landscape I´ll post the painting and the details soon, it was sent to the contest while I was out, no time to photograph it...and yet there´s a local show coming this September...

Talking about non linear time, this painting was from the view I used to have from my previous studio, (now it´s slightly different...)

Botafogo Cove- Sandra Nunes oil on canvas 100 x 72 cm

Posted bySandra Nunes at 8:45 AM 0 comments    

Church Backyard
Thursday, April 29, 2010

These centennial buildings in the church backyard reminds us of a bygone era...

Church Backyard - heavy body acrylic on linen 46x55cm Sandra Nunes

Posted bySandra Nunes at 11:48 AM 6 comments    

Labels: funicular da glória, Old Rio, outeiro da gloria, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes

April Waters
Thursday, April 8, 2010

April Waters
This is the first post in this blog without pictures, without paintings...The city of Rio de Janeiro is now submerged in a sea of mud, huge old trees thrown on the ground, flooded roads, many lives are being cut short, taken by the force of water coming down the slopes...
No images and no more words by now...

Posted bySandra Nunes at 10:48 PM 2 comments    

Labels: brazilian slidemud, flood, pleinair painting, riode janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes

Gone to the Beach
Sunday, February 28, 2010

It´s still too warm for plein air painting here. It seems temps are not going to change so soon. I knew I wouldn´t stand the heat for a long time, so I went to the beach with my smallest pochade box . Maybe I´ll approach this subject with a larger canvas in the future...
Gone to the beach - oil on panel 16x22 cm - Sandra Nunes

Posted bySandra Nunes at 2:42 PM 3 comments    

Labels: beach, brazilian artist, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, rio_das_ostras, Sandra Nunes, seascapes

Summer Hiatus
Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Urca, Portugal Avenue
New Year, new projects, new paintings...
It´s hard to believe that it´s already February and that it has been more than one month since my last post. Rio de Janeiro is experiencing extremely high temperatures, it´s a though season for plein air painting. I need to slow down the pace and stablish strategies to cope with the unbearable heat.
Once more I went to Urca district in search of shade and of a refreshing breeze from the sea. Strolling through Portugal Avenue this Flamboyant in bloom called my attention, suggesting an harmonious composition with the sunlight bathing the colorful walls.
Portugal Avenue-Urca - Sandra Nunes o/c 50x70cm

Posted bySandra Nunes at 5:41 AM 2 comments    

Labels: Brazilian Landscapes, flamboyant_tree, oil painting, oil_on_canvas, plein_air_painting, rio_de_janeiro_landscapes, sandranunes

A Midsummer Night in Rio - Christmas Festival
Thursday, December 3, 2009

Christmas Festival is a life size outdoors Nativity Scenes show, exclusively produced by 50 Brazilian artists selected through a contest.
These works are displayed in public places such as airports, streets and subway stations.

The concept of Nativity I´ve presented for this event is naturally a byproduct of my daily plein air painting work on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, which, in addition to its stunning beauty, exposes the daily lives of its people in a social-economic and cultural melting pot.

A Midsummer Night in Rio...
"The bohemian Lapa district becomes the stage for the birth of a baby at the foot of its Arches...Three curious street kids approach that family attracted by the scene..."

A Midsummer Night in Rio - Sandra Nunes
mixed media - 13.7x8.2x3.3 feetThis work is displayed at Rio de Janeiro Bus Terminal - Downtown from November 29th to January 6th
You can watch the work in progress here

Posted bySandra Nunes at 10:32 PM 4 comments    

Labels: acrylic on panel, Arcos da Lapa, christmas festival, nativity scene, oil on canvas, plein air painting, riode janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes

Jardim de Alah - Alah´s Garden
Friday, November 13, 2009

I love these almond trees. Brought from India, where they are native, they have adapted so well to our climate that they grow almost with joy and are present in almost every street .Their leaves fall -oficially in winter- but before,they change from green to various shades of red, pink pumpkin, yellow, transforming the sidewalks and streets in a multicolored tapestry. It´s a beauty, a real feast for the eyes!
Their trunks and leafless branches against sunlight become exquisite organic sculptures.
Alah´s Garden - oil on canvas 40x60cm-Sandra Nunes

Posted bySandra Nunes at 11:06 AM 0 comments    

Labels: almond tree, Ipanema, jardim de alha, landscape painting, leblon, oil on canvas, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes

Back to Ipanema - Nossa Senhora da Paz Church
Friday, November 6, 2009

I returned to the same spot I had been in Ipanema to catch the morning light ont the gothic/arabic(?) architecture of that beautiful church. This time with a larger linen canvas....

Nossa Senhora da Paz Church -o/l - 72x65cm - Sandra Nunes

Posted bySandra Nunes at 12:48 AM 0 comments    

Labels: Ipanema, Nossa senhora da paz, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes

Lavradio Street - Lapa
Monday, November 2, 2009

This 18th Century street in downtown Rio de Janeiro experiences a renaissance nowadays.It is located in Rio’s historical and commercial center. From the end of the 19th Century, the city’s elite made its home in Lapa district, where baronesses and counts mixed with Rio’s bohemian population. The city’s best cabarets and theatres were located there.
As I´ve been working on extra large formats,(I´ll post it soon) I´ve decided to approach this theme with small studies for a change.Maybe I´ll paint some of them larger in the future... I like to alternate between large and smalishes, each one has its own charm.
It was an overcast day and I decided to stop at this corner where nowadays is the headquarter of Brazilian Fine Art Society.


Brazilian Fine Arts Society - op 22x27 cm Sandra Nunes
The next day I headed to the last block of Rua do Lavradio. Lined with tastefully decorated restaurants, nightclubs, antique stores and a neighborhood barbershop, it was restored and entirely pedestrianized. It was difficult not to be distracted by the turn of the century streetlights, and several other embelishments of this part of the street.
I intended to edit , simplify and focus on the play of light on the colorful old buildings.

Lavradio Street - op 22x27cm - Sandra Nunes

This place sure deserves a series...

Posted bySandra Nunes at 12:46 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Arcos da Lapa, brazilian fine arts, lavradio street antique shops, oil on canvas, old rio dejaneiro, pleinair paintings, riode janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes, urban landscape

Spring!
Monday, September 28, 2009

Flower Parade
Some additional information about the project I mentioned in the previous post
The show Welcome to Spring is an urban interference to which 20 artists from Rio de Janeiro and 20 from Sao Paulo were invited to customize an iron structure of a stylized flower freely, linking the image of spring to the lauching of a Johnson Company product.
After the show, the flowers will be auctioned and part of the proceeds will go to charity institutions.
The show will be on till October 23rd.

My flower was installed in Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas district.
Watch the creative process and installation:

Posted bySandra Nunes at 10:41 AM 0 comments    

Labels: flower parade, glade, johnson, paisagem do rio de janeiro, pintura ao ar livre, pintura de flores, pleinair painting, primavera, primaveraglade, Sandra Nunes

Welcome Spring!
Thursday, September 24, 2009

Carioca Spring
This is a comission I´ve just finished as a part of a marketing project for Johnson Company launching of a new product.
The concept is to link spring season just beginning with the artwork.
I´ve received the stylized flower to work freely with it.

My inspiration: Rio de Janeiro
Working on side 2
Working on side 1 Braiding wires(spring on the tram rails)

Carioca Spring side 1 - mixed media - Sandra Nunes


Carioca Spring - side 2 - mixed media - Sandra Nunes

In the next post I´ll show some close ups and the making of... stay tuned!

Posted bySandra Nunes at 12:20 AM 2 comments    

Labels: glade, jardim de alah, johnson, oil painting, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes, santa teresa tram, spring

7th Worldwide Paint Out- Rio de Janeiro 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Worldwide Paint Out this year took place at Jardim de Alah.(read about last year´s in this link) Participating artists came from several nearby cities and we had a blast! Jardim de Alah is the frontier of Ipanema and Leblon districts. It´s a very silent and inspiring site nestled between Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas and the beach.
A warm sun welcomed the artists who arrived around 08:00am to capture the first morning light.
I was interviewed by Via Ipanema newspaper that gave us great exposure.


The Place:


The banner



The Group: As usual it was difficult to gather everybody to photograph.





Receiving guest artists from nearby cities:
Dyandreia...




The Photographer J. Carino:

Gilmar, Solange, Sandra Nunes,Jeanne Rouvvier, Ignez, Barbara
Getting ready for the group photo:


.
Artists at work:
Afonso...
Augusto Marques...

Patricia Newman...

Pedro da Costa...
Sousa...

Sidney...



Sandro, Maria Eunice...Alencar...
Claudite, Chung...

Ig Longuiño...


Therezinha Hillal(President of Fine Arts Brazilian Society),Cristina Bicalho, Ricardo Newton and Sandra Nunes


The Group: Once more, several participating artists missing ...I could not gather everybody..It´s been a great experience to coordinate this event here, watching plein air painting get exposure and growing.
The works resulting from this event will be in a show in Brazilian Fine Artist Society from September 28th.
As soon as I can, I´ll post some photos of this event in other states...

Posted bySandra Nunes at 7:10 PM 0 comments    

Labels: landscape painting, plein air painting, Sandra Nunes, worldwide paint out

Nossa Senhora da Paz Curch
Friday, September 4, 2009

Ipanema

This time I wanted to capture a beach scene with some figures. I went to Ipanema district, but on my way I was caught by this exquisite light on the church.
The beach scene was called off. I had to capture that. Certainly I´ll go back there to observe it from another point of view.

Nossa Senhora da Paz Church op 27x22cm - Sandra Nunes

Posted bySandra Nunes at 5:07 PM 2 comments    

Labels: Ipanema, Nossa senhora da paz, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, rua visconde de pirajá, Sandra Nunes

Back to Cara de Cao Hill
Sunday, August 9, 2009

This was a week of sudden changes of weather. For the third time this year I returned to Cara de Cao hill,I was sure that it would rain, but even so I picked a larger format, the gray day was inviting me to paint.
This time I had one more challenge, the wind started gently to blow and I had to be careful so that my light easel wouldn´t fly.

Rainy day in Urca - Sandra Nunes oil on linen 50x70cm

p.s. I´m so sorry I misposted this one. I had previously posted this in Portuguese!

Posted bySandra Nunes at 8:43 PM 0 comments    

Labels: boats, gray day, marine painting, plein air painting, Praia da Urca, Rio de janeiro landscapes, sandranunes

Painting Reminiscences
Saturday, July 11, 2009

Joao Homem Street - Conceicao Hill
There are some places in Rio de Janeiro where time seems to have stopped or goes slower. One of these places is Conceicao Hill.Besides being an important historical landmark of the city and of Brazil it is an island of peacefullness.

Beautiful centenary houses, located in the port area and surrounded by skyscrapers this site is a rarity.Children playing on the streets, neighbours (most of them Portuguese descendents) talking to each other from their windows... there is a calm atmosphere, a tranquility that contrasts with urban noises and nearby sounds.


This day I walked up and down the narrow streets and alleys before I found this one. I could not resist the charming colorful old houses bathed by the morning sunlight.I had to open my easel and paint a piece of this oasis.

Joao Homem Street- o/c 61x38cm - Sandra Nunes

Posted bySandra Nunes at 11:03 PM 4 comments    

Labels: Conceicao Hill, Joao homem street, Jogo da bola street, oil on canvas, oil painting, Old Rio landscapes, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes

Urca- Clearing Skies
Saturday, July 4, 2009

Undefined weather, after a rainy night the sky starts to clear and the dance of the clouds creates a beautiful show on the water. I had to work fast and I hope I did justice in capturing the exquisite winter light.

Urca- Clearing Sky - oil on linen 38x46cm - Sandra Nunes

Posted bySandra Nunes at 11:56 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Brazilian Landscapes, oil on canvas, plein air painting, Rio de Janeiro, Sandra Nunes, Seascape, Urca

Victoria Regia - Victoria Amazonica
Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Star of the Waters
Its a privilege to witness the blooming of this tropical water lily in Botanic Garden bathed by the warm sun of May. It is a perfect combination of colors, smells... and it´s a pity their flowers last only three days...

Vitoria Regia- Victoria Amazonica op 22x27cm Sandra Nunes

Take a look at a larger version I did based on this composition here

Posted bySandra Nunes at 7:25 PM 0 comments    

Labels: Amazon water lily, botanic_garden, giant_water_lily, plein_air_painting, pond_painting, rio_de-janeiro_landscapes, sandra_nunes, tropical_water_lily, victoria_amazonica, victoria_regia

Candelaria Church
Thursday, May 7, 2009

Candelaria Church

A walking tour through dowtown Rio de Janeiro can be a trip to the past...

Candelaria Church oil on canvas 27x22cm - Sandra Nunes

Posted bySandra Nunes at 10:26 AM 5 comments    

Labels: Brazilian Landscapes, Candelaria church, historic center, oil paintings, Old Rio, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sanda Nunes