Artist Statement
Maria Iva is a nature lover and a tireless hiker. She finds inspiration in exploring nature scenes of Southern Ontario that she often paints on-site and later recreates on canvas in her studio. Maria works primarily in oil with a palette knife, paints in a loose impressionistic manner, and uses colourist approach to express the quality of light in the open air. With her paintings Maria is trying to share her love for nature and manifest the beauty of Ontario landscape scenes.
Artist Bio
Maria Iva is a visual artist who works in two media: oils and dry pastels. She started painting after a successful career in education, a Doctorate Degree in Linguistics, and raising two children. She started as a fine art photographer but quickly moved to painting as it allowed her to have more freedom and control in her creativity.
Maria studied with several Canadian artists. such as Johannes Vloothuis, John Anderson, and John Pryce. She also traveled to the USA to take classes with American Impressionist artists such as Susan Sarback and Luis Griffels. During this period she started using a pallet knife and developed her impressionistic colourist style.
Maria spends a lot of time painting on location (en plein air). Her main subjects are trees, water, grass, rocks and sand. She is inspired by sun-lit scenes with vibrant colours and tries to pass on her excitement towards these subjects to her viewers.
Maria Iva is an elected member of the Society for Canadian Artists.
