Aleada Aine Siragusa: Gallery

Oil Painting en Plein Air

All these paintings are original, created with the finest oils, supports

and proper painting techniques to preserve archival integrity.

For purchasing paintings please contact me.

click on titles to enlarge and for more information

My husband and I created this Oriental Garden in our backyard. The background was painted with a layering of brush strokes creating various palm fronds and other greenery just hinted at. The lush foliage, with its various textures, plays against the deep color of the pond and rich colors in the statue. This garden is a peaceful sanctuary. Knowing the brush strokes in traditional Oriental painting gives me confidence while faced with the challenge of painting foliage.
The Vinoy hotel in St Petersburg Florida is in National Register of Historic Places as a fine example of 1920's Mediterranean Revival architecture. Painted in early spring in the park across the street from the Vinoy while Bougainvillea where in bloom, notice also the lovely flowers nestled among the gray branches and white trellis with the majestic pink hotel as the backdrop.
Fort De Soto, a Pinellas County Park in Florida, was rated the best beach in the world several times. In my links I have more information on this park. These mangrove filled estuaries are great for canoeing and fishing. You can drive up to the water to launch your boat, or fish, or like me, to set up an easel and paint. A large egret stayed with me while I painted; this was his territory but he was willing to share it with me.
Orange City Mist was painted in a campground north of Orlando in Orange City. This was painted on a wet misty day. Clark Family Campground is a clean friendly campground with plenty of beautiful wooded views for painting without leaving the grounds, a link is provided. I enjoy staying here when we visit our daughter who works in Orlando as an Environment Artist for Video Games, I have provided a link to her web site also.
This tree grows well in Florida and produces a delicious fruit called Star Fruit. In the spring, Florida which means, 'Land of Flowers' is profuse with blooms. The interplay in this painting between the orange bird of paradise flowers and the orange carumbola fruit, the contrast of the blue plumbago flowers that line the fence all create bright color notes.
Here is another beautiful sunset I witnessed at the Pass a Grille Beach. The colors are so various, with a great deal of red, thanks in part to the dust from the Sahara Desert. The sunsets are most dramatic in the summer while the cooling breeze blowing in from the gulf makes the beaches the place to be. I am blessed with magnificent beaches to paint while keeping cool in the summer.
On the Gulf Coast in the summer, particulates blow in from the distant African Sarah, giving our sunsets a magnificent redder cast. On Pass a Grille beach, people from all over the world come to see the sunsets and literally applaud the sun upon its final decent below the horizon line. This painting was done very quickly, because once the sun starts to set, it takes about 1/2 an hour to complete its decent.
This large oak tree is in our backyard. It was painted over the course of three days to get the late evening light falling on the branches at just the right time. There are many oak trees in St Petersburg, Florida. This tree is a playground to squirrels, a home to birds, and a hunting ground to a neighborhood hawk during the day and owls at night.
This stone bird bath is in my backyard. The five houses on our little circle were built in the early 1950's. The man who built these houses took native rocks from the property to build a separate bird bath for each house. The yards in this neighborhood are very large, so we landscaped our house to avoid mowing a lot of lawn in the back yard. Instead we prune and weed in the early spring and fall, which we think is far more enjoyable and beautiful than so much lawn and mowing. Our yard is certified by National Wildlife Federation as a wildlife back yard habitat. My links page has information about certification.
Pass a Grille is another great beach. The colors of the sea are really this rich and when you get in the water you can often see down to your feet, the water is that pure. On the distant horizon a sailboat passes by shrouded in the mist.
I painted this view late in the afternoon when the sky had some cloud cover which made the color of the sea a deeper value. The sky was tinted with a bit of alizarin which is also reflected on the sailboat that came into view as I painted. I enjoy the people who come to this beach, they are friendly and there is a sense of community here.
The day I painted this view the water was so rough I couldn't swim. While painting, I had to watch the sky in the north because a rain storm was blowing in. It was a good thing that I chose a small canvas and finished painting just in time to make it to the car. As you can see, there was a vigorous chop in the sea breaking on the shore. Still we had those beautiful light viridian colors in the sea and blue sky looking towards the south where I situated myself. You are now looking at a painting from one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Pristine and wild, it's a joy to be here.
This painting was painted in The Blue Spring Florida State Park. The area where the water in the aquifer flows out into the spring is called a boil because it bubbles much like boiling water. Blue Spring is the largest headwater of St John's River. I painted this picture in the afternoon when the sun lit up the water just right to reflect a rich blue-green; we artists call this color Viridian. I painted on a boardwalk high above the spring; the first photograph in my Biography is of me painting this picture. The water is very pure and you can see deep into the spring where the sunlight was not reflecting and there you will see a large tree trunk in the water that divers swim under. Upstream the manatees gather in the winter; it's a beautiful park with a history and nature you can only find in Florida.
This Volusia County Park has many exciting and different views. I hope to return soon to paint there again. Gemini Springs has two small springs and a beautiful moon bridge and wonderful views of a bayou off the St John's River. I painted this bayou on a slightly overcast but bright day with wind whipping ripples over the water. The grass near the water and the light sky gave the scene a light blond tonality which I enjoyed interpreting.
New Smyrna Beach is on the east side of Florida, this was painted in the afternoon in late spring. The Atlantic coast of Florida, while beautiful in it's own right, does not have the same color in the sea and sand as the Gulf Coast which reflects a more tropical color.
This is a view from a mangrove estuary at Fort De Soto Park. Here we are looking out at the approach to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge which connects Pinellas County with Manatee County. The color of the water intrigued me this day as it changed several different clear hues as one looks out to the causeway. The sky had a hint of alizarin in it and the greens of the mangroves were a rich spring green, all these color changes give this painting the lovely variety of colors which makes Fort De Soto one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
Painted in the late evening, this is one of those charming ranch homes from the 1950's, the eves are painted pink which is a popular color in FLorida. I added the power lines because I saw them and they add visual interest to the composition.
I painted this little gem in Taylor Park, a small park located in Pinellas County. I titled this painting Gold Rush because when the sun hit the dry rushes on a winter afternoon they turned to gold. People think a Florida winter is just drab browns but if you go into the woods or parks in the area you will see flaming red maples, deep green pine, rich blue water and gold rushes; for those who really look, a Florida winter is rich with color.
Cape Canaveral National Seashore has 24 miles of pristine natural beach. We accessed the beach from the northern entrance on Apollo Beach. I painted this view in spring, just before the sunset. The beach has red sand, which reflects in the shallow water. It had rained all day and the sky was overcast but glowing from the reflected western sun. Lucky for me, the weather cleared up enough so I set up my easel on a high boardwalk located above the beach. My daughter saw a small whale near the shore while I was painting.

Virtual Paintout

The Virtual Paintout Monthly Challenge takes the artist to a designated place

around the world each month using only Google Street views

The Virtual Paintout concept was created by Bill Guffey, (links)

Enjoy the Virtual Paintout as you take an artistic trip around the world.

This was painted on a plywood board to which I gave texture to in a gesso coat; to paint over this texture I used a pallet knife in the sky and water and to create the buildings. I liked the small shots of deep yellow sunlight in the woods, this helps anchor the land and adds a color surprise. The salmon color walk in the foreground adds a harmonious but contrasting color to the middle and background which are in cooler blues tones, the warm alizarin hue in the water keeps the flow of color harmony with a play between warm and cool.
I found these jeans drying on the roof top while on a Virtual trip to the Canary Islands. I like the dark blue color and organic free form shape in these garments which contrast the predominately white buildings and the sky. The texture in the house and other buildings were emphasized using a pallet knife, the sky was also laid in with the pallet knife using a smoother sweep of the knife. The camera Google Maps uses has a slight wide angle and this created a drama in the sky and the blue green plants on the bottom of the painting.
Tunnels are like windows which create interest because of the dramatic change of light as you look out from the darkness into the day light. This tunnel frames its subject and directs the eye to the focal point. The large the hanging lights illuminate the tunnel walls and the cobble stone street with a golden glow while creating shades of color and texture for the eye to play with. Tourists of different shapes and postures also give a feeling of being there.
In Hawaii we find a blue cast on beautiful volcanic mountains, sky, and sea. Here we have a lush setting painted with a glazing technique to make the painting glow with the colors of verdant green and moist blues and purples. Note the lone car parked in the distance.

I searched Hong Kong for a landscape that would reflect the Orient and I found it in this charming country park with its Oriental gate. I intensified the colors, the reds and yellows, to also give this landscape an Oriental Feel.