Maria Iva

Maria Iva is a nature lover and a tireless hiker. She finds her inspiration in exploring beautiful scenes of Southern Ontario. She often paints on location with soft pastels on sanded paper and later recreates the scene on canvas in her studio in oil using a palette knife. Her pastel paintings are usually quick plein air sketches that capture the light and the feeling of the scene. Her oil paintings are much bigger pieces that are richly textured and colored. Using wet-on-wet technique she applies thick palette knife strokes that create depth and plenty of details. In both media Maria uses clean vibrant colors that allow her to demonstrate the effect of sunlight on the scene.
Maria started painting after having a successful career in education and in a short time achieved a professional level that allowed her to exhibit and sell her work.
Maria is an Elected Member of the Society of Canadian Artists and a Master Signature Member of the Pastel Artist Canada.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Maria Iva paints in a loose impressionistic manner and uses colorist approach to express the quality of light in the open air. With her paintings she is trying to share her love for nature and manifest the beauty of Ontario landscape scenes.