Paintings from Paradise

Alooooooha! Two and a half weeks ago, I returned from my first visit to the Hawaiian Islands–Kaua’i and Hawai’i (the Big Island), plus a day on Oahu. The different environments, animals, and a number of the local art galleries, inspired some fun, artistic exploration once I got back to the mainland. That’s what I’m sharing today. 

  1. Some pen doodles inspired by some of the simple graphic designs on National Park pins. My traveling party saw green sea turtles (honu in Hawaiian) on two occasions: once at Punalu’u, a black sand beach, & again at Kaloko-Honokohau, a National Historic Park.

 

2. Ginger plant (acrylic, 8 x 10″). The ginger blooms in several different colors — red, white, yellow, & pink. The pinks & reds were quite striking against the green foliage of the rainforests.  

3. Painting of a honu resting (oil, 9″ x 6.5″). This was painted more like a watercolor would be (in terms of layers & values). First I painted the yellow across the whole hardboard (such that it started off looking like a background color), and then the blues on top of that, preserving the lights. Many of the greens were actually mixed right on the surface when the blue & yellow paint met. 

Mahalo nui loa for reading. 

February 2019

Happy New Year, happy Presidents Day, and everything in between.

My art adventures took a little holiday during the holidays, and I traveled a bit as well. Between everything, I’ve quietly and slowly been working away at a handful of things on the drawing board (or, rather, the drafting table): a painting of a shipwreck from my trip to Oregon & Washington in August, custom Pandagram paintings for a client, a large painting of a Viking ship, and just a little bit of illustration for the long-time-coming John Churchmouse. 

While I work on those, please enjoy this painting from my Oregon trip (meaning the subject matter is from the trip–I painted it after I returned). Click to enlarge.

Happy Harvest-time

It’s starting to look more like autumn up here. The colors are turning later than usual because it rained so much earlier this autumn–lots of refreshment to keep the plants green longer.

In the spirit of autumn, here is an illustrative piece I painted this week and within a week (started last Sunday, finished Saturday/yesterday).

 I’m not sure what I will title it just yet. The tree “slice” on which it is painted has been hanging around the art supplies for a couple years. No idea where it came from since I didn’t purchase it. But I’m glad to have come up with an idea that works with it as a painting surface. Actually, the squirrel picture had been tucked away longer than the tree piece. Maybe five years ago? More? I’m not sure. I had drawn this on the back of some scrap paper while visiting a friend. (This is actually a modified scan of the original drawing; the original had some scribbles to indicate a pumpkin vine curling around the bottom, rather like in the painting.)

As you can see, I made a few changes, including making the pumpkin on which the squirrel squats taller to better fit the vertical picture plane the tree slice provided. It’s fun to bring out old subjects and work with them again.

Special Recognition: LST Animals 2018

This week, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery announced the results of its May 2018 “Animals” contest, and my oil painting, Bluesy Coda, was accepted in Special Recognition in the Paintings & Other Media category! (Special Recognition is a subcategory different from the overall Special Merit category.) More than 700 pieces of art were submitted. Be sure to browse the exhibit — there are many fine pictures.

Links

Animals 2018 Exhibition main page: www.lightspacetime.art/animals-art-exhibition-may-2018-2/

Painting & Other Media page: www.lightspacetime.art/animals-2018-art-exhibition-painting-other-media-category/

(Scroll down to find a puppy you might recognize. Artwork is arranged alphabetically by the artists’ surnames, so it’s near the top of the “Special Recognition Artists” section.)

LST’s Youtube page, which has video slideshows of all the exhibition categories: www.youtube.com/user/LightSpaceTime