Ilha Grande
Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Back to Paradise Island. The turquoise color water under a bright afternoon light was inviting my brushes!

Sandra Nunes Pintando na Ilha Grande - Praia da Bica

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Labels: ilha grande, impressionism, marine painting, oil painting, plein air painting, rio de janeiro seascape, Sandra Nunes, seascapes

Worldwide Paint Out - Rio de Janeiro 2016
Monday, September 19, 2016

I arrived early at the meeting point as I knew that later, with the artists arriving it would be very difficult to concentrate on my painting. Corcovado Hill was playing hide and seek with the clouds barely revealing its contours. The artists started to come and little by little the sun made its way through the clouds mirrowing the movement of the artists down here.

That was the moment I wanted to register on my canvas...

Urca- Sunday Morning oil on canvas - 30 x 60 cm Sandra Nunes

I´ve been coordinating this venue in Rio for 12 years, this time I was positively impressed, as we had 75 artists coming from Rio and other cities, some of them traveling more than 500 km to participate. They came from São Paulo, Piracicaba, Paraty etc... We had a great time painting together!

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Labels: impressionism, plein air paintingg, quadrado da urca, Sandra Nunes, Urca, worldwide paint out

Victoria Regia
Friday, August 26, 2016

This is one of the soft pastels plein air paintings I have done in preparation for a large dimension commission in oils. Standing by the pond at the Botanic Garden, observing the movement of the waterlilies opening and eventually closing before I could finish the paintings was a good challenge.

"Victoria Regia"  Soft Pastels Sandra Nunes 20x40cm

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Labels: botanic garden, flower painting, impressionism, plein air painting, Sandra Nunes, soft pastels, victoria regia, waterlily

Outeiro da Glória - Sidewalk carpet
Saturday, August 13, 2016

I love this time of the year when the almond trees carpet the sidewalks! 

Outeiro da Gloria Sidewalk Carpet Sandra Nunes Soft Pastels on Wallis

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Labels: autumn colors, impressionism, outeiro da gloria, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes, soft pastels

The Undertow
Tuesday, August 2, 2016

On the Eve of the Olympics Rio 2016, the star of last weekend was the undertow. It was an excellent opportunity to capture once more the hypnotic movement of the waves. The sea is always an inspiration and capturing the dynamic of its movement is a great challenge!

the undertow oil on panel 16x22 cm Sandra Nunes This is a less than one minute video of a beautiful moment of this plein air painting session. Enjoy!

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Labels: bike easel, impressionism, marinepaintings, oil painting, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes, Seascape, undertow

Plein Air Painting - Europe 2016 - London - Part III
Saturday, July 30, 2016

Russia and the Arts - The Age of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky

Sandra Nunes National Portrait Gallery London 2016

 One of the highlights of my trip to Europe this year was having to chance to attend this exhibition in London. A collection of portraits of Musicians, writers, actors, and artistic patrons is on display with masterpieces from the prestigious Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow
It is a parade of faces, feelings in a reunion of heroes from the end of the nineteen century till 1914. They are intense, tormented...

Modest Mussorgsky, 1881 by Ilia Repin

This masterpiece by Ilya Repin portrays the composer Modest Mussorgsky on his last days is of his life at the age of 42. The painting was commissioned by Pavel Tretyakov, the philanthropist who founded the state gallery, it was painted in a military hospital in St Petersburg.The composer sat for four difficult days in 1881, dying before the planned final sitting. Repin found it the most powerful and poignant commission of his career, donating his fee to a memorial for the composer.

Mikhail Vrubel, Portrait of N. Zabela Vrubel

But while we are familiar with figures such as Akhmatova, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky and Tolstoy , we are less familiar with the Russian painters of the time.Painters like Serov, Repin and  Mikhail Vrubel are almost unknown in the western hemisphere. We are much more familiar with Russian avant garde painters like Kandinsky and Malevich.

Fedor Dostoesvsky, 1879 by Vasily Perov

Sandra Nunes Painting the London Bridge London 2016

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Labels: impressonism, london bridge, oil painting, painting in london, portrait painting, realism, Repin, Russian painting, Sandra Nunes, Sevov, simbolism, Vrubel

Plein Air Painting - Europe 2016 - London Part II
Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Continuing from my last post, ( you can read it here) I´ll write now about my reencounter with another Great Master:
John Constable

Nature and Nostalgia
Constable took a long time to achieve recognition. While his work was just as radical as Turner's, it shows none of the latter's constant searching for new subjects. He admired earlier Dutch painters as "a stay at home people, hence, their originality" His work was located in familiar territory beginning with his native Stour Valley between Suffolk and Essex.

Salisbury Cathedral from river Avon, 1820 oil on canvas John Constable Some of Constable sketches record individual motifs that reappear in finished paintings while others, provided the basis for entire compositions.

Cloud study  John Constable

pochade study John Constable

Sandra Nunes at Constable Gallery of studies Victoria and Albert Museum - London

John Constable

John Constable

John Constable

Cloud study John Constable

At the bus stop Euston Road

Sandra Nunes Plein air painting - Euston Road London

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Labels: Constable, contemporary landscape painting, Euston, impressionism, London, oil on canvas, oil sketches, plein air painting, pochade box, rainy day painting, Sandra Nunes, Turner, Victoria and Albert Museum

Plein Air Painting - Europe 2016 - London Part I
Saturday, July 2, 2016

Meeting Sargent - Tate Britain Gallery

Study for Madame Gatreaux J. S. Sargent

Trees and Skies J.W. Turner

Goring Mill and Church - JW. Turner There´s no preliminary drawing in this unfinished work, the sky is sufficiently developed o show that the weather is fine and the war clouds suggest afternoon...

Their function as studies allowed for greater freedom to experiment with format, medium and technique. Turner´s focus varies from the single motif to wider views of the landscape, encompassing foliage, mountains, rivers, skies and the sea which exerted a particular fascination for him later in his life.

J. W. Turner

Turner drew prolifically in sketchbooks of various shapes and sizes, some of which(about 300!) are now held at Tate. In 1801 he used this small sketchbook during hs tour in Scotland, which included an exploration on the Highlands. This  sketchbook below is open at studies completed in guache, a more opaque medium than watercolor, giving solidity to the mountain form.

Turner's Sketchbook

                                       Time to rest the eyes and do my "homework":

Sandra Nunes Sketching in watercolor - Hyde Park

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Labels: Constable, John Singer Sargent, landscape painting, London, madame gatreaux, oil painting, plein air painting, pochade, Sandra Nunes, sketchbook, Tate Gallery, Turner

Paraty - Festa do Divino
Thursday, May 12, 2016

I´ve been working in the city of Paraty these days. This is a Unesco World Heritage site and it  is a painter´s dream! This year the village received us like this: the colonial houses bathed by the May sun and all dressed up in red and white for the traditional "Feast of the Holy Spirit"
    

Paraty - Festa do Divino oil on canvas 27 x 35 cm Sandra Nunes

Sandra Nunes Painting in Paraty

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Labels: colonial village, festa do divino, impressionism, landscape painting, oil on canvas, Paraty, plein air painting, Sandra Nunes

São Clemente Street
Thursday, April 28, 2016

The charming district of Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro-  Carioca SoHo

São Clemente Street - Botafogo Sandra Nunes oil on canvas 46x65 cm

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Labels: Botafogo, Corcovado, impressionism, oil on canvas, Rio de janeiro landscapes, rio de janeiro paintings, Rua são clemente, Sandra Nunes

Marina da Gloria
Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Rio de Janeiro is getting ready for the Olympics. Marina da Gloria was completely remodelled for the Nautical games, its amazing, the view is a post card for itself.

 The bike easel  sometimes takes me to places that are sometimes impossible to reach by car.Why not join two pleasures and work?

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Labels: impressionism, Marina da Gloria, marine painting, oil painting, plein air painting, pochade, rio de janeiro landscape, Rio olympics, Sandra Nunes

Afternoon tea - watercolor
Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Afternoon Tea watercolor on Saunders waterford Sandra Nunes

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Labels: alla prima, impressionism, Sandra Nunes, saunders waterford, tea, watercolor

Painting reminiscences -work in progress... time travel
Thursday, April 7, 2016

During the Olympic Games there will be an exhibition in Rio about the city on the nineteenth and early twentieth century. I was one of the artists invited to tell this visual story. Plein air painting is a good way to travel through time, besides finding old buildings, survivals of a bygone era, being on the site provided me the opportunity to listen to the stories of passersby.I will post t the finished painting later.

Thanks to two passersby who spontaneously took these pictures and sent them to me.

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Labels: castelinho do Flamengo, impressionism, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes

Watercolor!
Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Afternoon Light Sandra Nunes Watercolor on Saunders Waterford paper 300

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Labels: impressionism, plein air painting, Sandra Nunes, saunders waterford, watercolor

Summer on the Bike Path
Sunday, January 31, 2016

High summer, there is an explosion of Flamboyants in bloom all over the city. The fallen flowers turn the bike path into a yellow/red carpet!
This morning..

Summer on the Bike Path Flamboyants in Bloom Sandra Nunes oil on canvas

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Labels: bike path, cycling, flamboyants, impressionism, oil on canvas, plein air painting, rio de janeiro landscape, Sandra Nunes, summer in rio

From Plein Air Painting to Studio Work
Thursday, December 24, 2015

There is no Greater Master than Nature when learning to paint. Nothing substitutes the observation and constant training of the eyes when facing natural elements.In fact, learning to paint is learning to see and translate our inner vision. Whenever I´m asked why plein air painting I have longer and shorter answers, but I always state that they are completely different ways of working.
Recently I finished in the studio  the painting I´m posting now. It is a very large work for plein air!
I had already done smaller works with this theme, but for this one I started with compositional studies on the site and brought them to the studio to be developed into the final painting.

Victoria Regia - The Star of the Waters oil on canvas 180 x 80 cm Sandra Nunes

On the next post I´ll show the preliminary studies for this work. 
By now, Happy Holidays!
I wish you  a Happy and Blessed New Year!

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Labels: botanic garden, impressionism, ninpheas, oil painting, plein air painting, Rio de janeiro landscapes, Sandra Nunes, victoria regia

Art and Traveling - part III
Friday, November 20, 2015

Being an artist I´m always pushing myself, exploring new techniques and materials, learning all along the way. Sometimes it is tough leaving the comfort zone and setting new goals.Well, I believe it is not the destination but the journey that counts and I´m having a blast on mine!

On the previous post I mentioned my first contact with Cobra Oils Solvent Free, the water miscible oils from Talens(you can read it here).

Arches Huile

Another material I had the opportunity to test was Arches Huile. This paper was specifically designed for oil painting and I specially liked the texture that keeps the look of Arches watercolor papers. It is archival , high quality, 100%  rag, 300 gsm manufactured with a barrier that absorbs  water or solvents evenly. It is very practical as it is available in  A3, A4 pads and in rolls that are easy to cut in different sizes

In Paris I combined the water miscible oils (Cobra) with Arches Huile. I  loved their practicality for traveling; just attach the paper  temporally to a solid support like a foam board and you are ready to paint immediately. The only attention one must have is  mounting it afterwards on an equally archival support before framing.

This paper is a bit more absorbent than the support I use to prepare for my paintings, that calls for a different approach, maybe more impasto than thin areas...Well I´ll continue exploring plein air painting on this surface  and in the studio as well to test its versatility.

Sandra Nunes painting from the porch Canal San Martin, Paris

I started this oil sketch at the end of  a rainy afternoon from the porch. Paris rooftops  always attracted my attention and they were specially beautiful under an ever changing grey sky. I just wanted to capture the atmosphere with quick and synthetic brushstrokes only suggesting rather than rendering the rooftops architecture. At this point I called it done and stopped to  watch the gift of a wonderful sunset in Paris! 

Paris Rooftops -Sunset quick sketch Sandra Nunes Cobra Oils solvent free on Arches Huile

Read from the beginning Art and Traveling 1

                                         Art and Traveling 2

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Labels: arches huile, cobra watermiscible paint, les toits de paris, ois sketch, painting on paper, Paris painting, paris painting impressionism, Paris rooftops, plein air painting, Sandra Nunes

Art and Traveling - part II
Saturday, November 7, 2015

As I have written in the previous post, besides learning from the Great Masters studying their paintings up close, in galleries and museums, traveling abroad provides the opportunity to work in different locations; it is a great exercise on training to capture the local atmosphere. In addition, there is the possibility of experimenting with new techniques and use of new art materials.

Painting in oils, when travelling, may present some difficulties from brush cleaning, using solvents in inappropriate environments such as hotel rooms, to packing and transporting  wet canvases.. As we know, drying time of oil painting is subject to many variables ( I intend to  talk more about this soon).

I am always in search of the best art supplies to work with, not only the immediate result but permanence is also important. I want my paintings to last for many years after I´m gone.

Well,  I've tested water miscible oil paints some years ago, Winsor and Newton Artisan, Talens H2Oil and Grumbacher Max. None of them satisfied me for one reason or another. The pigment concentration, for example, I didn´t find any brand with the same pigment load of the traditional oils in their professional lines
This year I've learned about  Cobra, the new generation of Royal Talens water miscible oils. They  are manufactured both in professional line (Cobra fine) and student (Cobra study). I tested only the professional line.

Cobra Solvent Free Oils Sandra Nunes Painting in Tulleries Garden

                                                         
I was positively impressed by its quality, and the fact of not using solvent was a good point. At first it behaves differently from traditional oils, but after understanding how to handle it, a new world is opened! No smell!
When I´m travelling all paintings are done alla prima, hit or miss in one session.

Tulleries Garden Cobra Solvent Free oil on panel 16x22 cm Sandra Nunes

There are some mediums available to be used for  example when working in layers. I didn´t use any at this time, just a bit of water at the beginning and then just paint.

Sandra Nunes Painting in Honfleur

Sandra Nunes Painting in Honfleur

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Labels: cobra solvent free, julian paris, landscape painting, leidseplein, oil painting impressionism, Paris, plein air painting, pochade box, Sandra Nunes, Stadsschouwburg, Tulleries

Art and Traveling
Tuesday, October 6, 2015

I´ve been  posting less here and privileging Facebook. This is a natural way  for the social network's immediacy and real time response. But I still like writing and reading longer posts. So I´ll keep this blog and my website as well for this kind of interactivity, sharing  as often as possible my creative process.

The Night Watch Rembrandt at Rijksmuseum

The Banquet of the Officers of Saint George Militia Frans Hals

Studying the Master of brushstrokes at Frans Hals Museum - Haarlem

Plein Air painting in Amsterdam - Leidseplein Stadsschouwburg Sandra Nunes

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Labels: alla prima, Amsterdam, Frans Hals, julianparis, leidseplein, oilsketch, plein air painting, pochade box, Rembrandt, Rijksmuseum, Sandra Nunes, Stadsschouwburg, The night watch, urbansketch