Bring on the color

I saw this little cluster of palm trees without a whole lot of anything else going on. I was going to move on, but I really liked the movement of the tree trunks, so I decided to just see what would happen. This cute little 8"x 10" happened! I've added cerrulean Blue and Cad red light to my pallette, and am enjoying the color pop. This piece gives me confidence to create.

Old Hawaii

Just to the north of the harbor is a park, where the ancient Hawaiians used to live and fish. Great effort is made to keep these areas original and undisturbed. This painting shows a bit of this history. I like the way this painting makes you feel like you are looking out on to the bay the way the ancients did.

Another productive day at the harbor......even though my day got off to a slow start as I left my tube of white home, and had to buy another at the art store to get started. This is the point at the mouth of the harbor. I was attracted to this scene by the bouy, and the navigation warning light attached to the point. This piece has that nice Hawaii sparkle!

#41, The winter surge

Took my paints for a long walk down the coast line. Its all lava rock cliffs with the winter surge splashing up against them. I found this small cove where the water swirled as it washed in and out, so I thought I would give it a try. I think I did a good job creating movement in the water, and a strong center of interest with the deeper cerrulean blue pool, and the gold bleached lava rock. I like the work, but wonder is this subject "saleable"?? It seems to need something more, but what?? More color?, Maybe a stonger group of rocks in the left side of the pool? Anyways this is painting number 41 on my way to 100 plein air works. Maybe by 100, I will know the answers. :)

Out of the Breeze and into the Trees

I was watching this grove of palm trees waiting for the sun to go low enough to light up their trunks. When it finally happened, I gave it a try. I like the mass of the fronds and the background.........I might like to vary the coloration on the trunks next go round, and work to capture the low lighting a bit more. But hey....I'm outside painting palm trees!!

A fight to the finish

We drove down south today to Naalehu. Wonderful rocky coastlines and .....WIND! Set up to paint this rocky point and had much trouble shifting from realistic to abstract. I can't stop painting rocks instead of just massing them in, and I have trouble with the greens on top of the point......it keeps looking like a bad green toupee. After about an hours worth of painting in which my water blew over twice and my whole easel tipped over once, and I gashed open my hand trying to catch it................this is the results! I like the liveliness of the ocean.....this was a good learning experience.

Back lit Begonias

We have this wonderful potted Begonia on our back lani, and every day I say..."Today I will paint those Begonias". Well today I did! I'm pushing myself towards abstract..especially in the flowers....just blobs of color, and dark leaf mass. They are the best part of this painting.

Shapes and Color

Got back outside again today, and found a new beach. A big view on a smaller panel. Since there was no real center of interest, and too big of a scene, I just worked on shapes and color. I like the results.....but I will soften the right hand edges of the bright green bushes.

Reaching out to the ocean

Sometimes I do a plein air piece and nature just doesn't arrange itself in the best possible way.........So, I have to restucture it a bit. Originally this had a solid rock "barricade" across the ocean which halted the viewers enrty into the painting and made it uninviting. Back home I punched a hole in the rocks so the viewer could let his eye wander all the way to the water, and brightened the sand in the entry to make sure the viewer got all the way to the ocean. Now you can feel yourself move towards the gap and down to the ocean.

Don and Judy's tulip tree

Was feeling a bit under the weather today, but still wanted get my daily painting in. Luckily my neighbor has a beautiful tulip tree growing outside my studio window. So here it is in late afternoon sun.

Closer to Home

We have these really nice Dipladenias growing up the side of our fence. They were illuminated in the morning sun, so I thought they might make a nice subject. Pink is a really hard color to get right!! So after about 40 minutes of work, I let the piece dry and brought it inside to adjust the pinks.........now thery're better. Nothing spectacular, but this is kind of a cheerful piece.

Arrrrrrrrgggh!

I like to paint. Its more fun when things go smoothly, but struggling with problems are a part of the process. Then there are paintings like this one. You set up and wait for the light..........when it finally happens you start. And your color mixes are off, and the light is changing too rapidly, and you all of a sudden you start painting each rock, instead of a coast line, and your paint is drying before you can get it off your pallette. ARRRRRRRGH!!! I have this vision of picking up my french easel and throwing over the cliff into the ocean. Phew.. You have to know when to say when, and I finally did here, and packed up and went home. Lumps of coal like this one make you appreciate the diamonds even more. On we go. :)

How Dry I am

Took my paints down the hill to our community beach today, looking for something interesting to paint. It was about 3:30pm, and as usual, the sun is hiding behind the volcanic vog and overcast, and nothing really is catching my eye. Way down the coast is an old volcanic cinder cone with a lone tree perched on it. The atmosphere is so dense that it reads very soft and greyed down. I like that tree, so why not? My paints are drying really fast, so I am doing a bit of scrubbing, but its giving me a nice softness and color variation. Here is the results. This may not be classic Hawaii, but it is spot on "Big Island" Hawaii.

Look what I found

Here on the Big Island, a lot of our sunsets are obscured by clouds and volcanic emmissions called "vog". Every once in a while the winds will blow off the haze and we get a nice sunset. Just when I was ready to give up on it....pow.....there it was! This is a little slice of ocean view painted from my backyard. Next time I go chasing a sunset, I think I'll add some Cad red light to my pallette.

Going Bananas

I always look at my banana trees and think they would make a great subject, but I am always intimidated by the amount of leaves. So this month I am trying to choose a subject each day that will push me out of my comfort zone and force me to try to tackle things I would normally avoid. So here they are! I started out trying to paint each leave, but luckily I came to my senses about half way through, and just painted the lights, darks and mid-tones where I saw them, and the look of leaves happened. I like this looser look too.

Life is a Beach

Another day at the beach. I was attracted to the spikey palm tree to the left when I decided to paint this scene, and the clouds in the sky, so I grabbed an 11"x14" panel and started. Some of this painting I enjoy...some parts I don't. I don't care for the "lead in". Its too far to the right where you enter the painting at the beach. I like the sand "path" through the painting back into the brush, and the big sky, but the colors are a bit drab overall in this piece. I'll chalk this one up to the learning curve, and its on we go!