more WAVES?

Crazy thought, how many wave pictures can I paint in a month? The plan would be to take them to the ZOO FENCE in Waikiki and sell them on the weekend with the rest of the starving artists of Hawaii. I think that is the PLAN, but for now, gotta go to work...NO WAVES THERE.

Set of Three or Two- HOW THE WAVES BREAK

My wave riding boogie boarding friends all had theories of "HOW THE WAVES BREAK". I remember that the cadence was important to understand. If you could time those waves you could actually get a chance to stand up in between and compose yourself......or run.
At the North Shore the waves are more sheer like huge veils hung high and white lace falling over them.
My palette pales in comparison.

one after the other

Lindsay Graves and I stood in the surf in Nags Head North Carolina waiting for the next wave.
As the tide came in they came at us faster and faster. Lindsay was a freckle face girl, and she wore her rubber nose plug round her neck. She was fearless, she was my friend. Thank you Lindsay for braving the waves with me. You were one tough cookie.
I don't think we ever got strong enough to handle the North Shore waves in Hawaii. That is a different ball game. These relentless waves crash hard on a rocky shore. I think even Lindsay would have opted for a beach chair and a PBJ.

one big wave took me down and I am still spinning

Okay, usually if there is a wave this big there are many more behind it.

Not this time, this guy was on his own.

RETREAT or DIVE IN, which would you do?

DIVE

That is the only answer.

calm versus chaos

The cost of living in Hawaii is very high. Most of the locals I know work 3 jobs to make ends meet.
On top of that the State has the kids off on Friday to save money.
So there is not a lot of relaxing going on. No one is sitting in a hammock drinking Maitai cocktails.
NOPE, but if they did their view would be spectacular.

CALM , that is what we want, but instead of sitting in a beach chair and watching the surf, we shop.
CRAZY huh?

In charge of the wave

Awesome day at North shore had by all. I have not captured the full experience of that day but imagine this scene with 8 sea turtles swimming around and about 30 young surfers riding the waves.

Dude on a Board

The surf is not always mean, this day it was very easy to manuever and the novice surfers where out in numbers. I liked this guy because he had attitude....and cool hair.
The colors of the surf here in Hawaii are more amazing. What a beauitful place to play!

SURFER in HAWAII

This is the first surfer I painted while in Hawaii. I was on the beach at the North Shore and before I could even sit down in the sand I noticed a huge turtle swimming in the surf. He had about 7 or 8 friends and they all seemed to be enjoying the calm waters of North Shore along with the boogieboarders and surfers. I hope you like this series of paintings. It is the beginning of "a painting a day". I had a crush on a surfer once and I don't think I ever got over it.

Iolani Palace Honolulu Hawaii

Twenty or so artists paint along side Mark N. Brown every Saturday on O'ahu.
If you come to the island and want to paint , I suggest that you find him. He is a super host
for any painter that is eager to try an adventure in capturing the island. He is a joy to watch
as he paints large canvas and dances around his work. He loves to teach and you will learn a lot from his critiques.
The Iolani is lovely and well worth the visit.
The picture above is me at a 3/4 finish point of an acrylic painting. I have not added the Hawaiian flags as of yet but they are lovely blowing in the island breeze.

Planted

This design based acrylic painting was the first I painted in Honolulu. I painted it in the window

of a store front and sold it tonight at the E-1 Studio on Waimanu in Honolulu. I love the bright colors and have painted a small one similar that also sold.

Tonight we had our Christmas party for the Studio and my first time to eat POKE and MANDOO. The experience in Hawaii is more than palm trees and beach scenes. It is an island rich in asian cultures blended with native Hawaiian traditions. The most popular breakfast is a sushi style rice cake with SPAM!!! Poke is a great Tuna dish sushi style, and Mandoo is an awesome dumpling. We only had a small gathering for the FIRST STUDIO party but we are still building steam. Thanks to all that attended , what a blast.

Watercolor Loose Portraits

I was so fortunate to get the honor to do these portraits.

The two are of a Mother and Daughter who are no longer with us.

Thank you Susan for letting me paint these two smiles.

Portraits in Watercolor

Portraits Paintings for a Good Friend in Virginia.

we three tiki

Still working on Securing Studio space

meanwhile....painted a study for WE THREE TIKI'S

unfinished but will add TIKI detail tonight.

STUDENT WORK--GOLD GESSO FISH

Brandon had a great eye for color and composition.

I really miss working with him. He is one of my students

and lives in Virginia where he paints and goes to school.

Brandon has a keen interest in nature and I can't wait

to see his dragonfly paintings. He also has a series of

AIRLINE paintings which I love.

This FISH painting just pops out at you. I wish it were mine,

but Brandon's prices are a little too steep for me!!!

Friday the 13th at Trends in WARD

AWESOME UNIQUE FURNITURE

Kavin at Trends is hosting a Wine and Cheese party on Friday Nov. 13th
I will have my art work there, the 3 large canvas paintings that I started
last week in store.
It is a GREAT store with furniture from India, very different.
My art meshes with the style of furniture that Kavin is offering.
I do hope to see a great turn out for the Friday event in the Ward area.
Please stop by Fridays from 5:30 to 8 for our Meet and GREET.

Trends is located at 1200 Ala Moana Blvd in Honolulu .

CLOUDS IN PARADISE-VIEW IN HONOLULU

Even Paradise has clouds,

this is a hard concept to grasp.

In Honolulu you can watch the clouds

get stuck on the volcano top unable to get to this side of the island.

Most of the time they don't make it to the beach, they just stay on the mountain top.

The clouds made it past the volcano and it rained sprinkling silver rain all early morning.

It may be hard to see but there is a rainbow.

There is always a rainbow here.

I plan to look for the pot of gold.

I will paint tomorrow regardless of the weather.

I am inspired by Cassandra Barney of Utah, her collaboration video got my wheels churning

THURSDAY- WASHDAY

I have a series of towel headed chicks. I am still working on this series and they are up on walls all over the place. This one is on Vanessa's Hall Entry in Richmond Virginia. I would have preferred to paint Vanessa but could never capture her loveliness.

CHARLIE'S CAFE NORFOLK VIRGINIA

This is the painting for the T-shirt design of HOT VEGI'S at Charlie's Cafe in Norfolk VA.

Go to Charlie's on Granby Street in Norfolk and get the pancakes..yummmmmyyyyyy

SeaShell Nags Head

A friend of mine who lived in Nags Head NC said they could recognize a shell from there even taken away from context.

I believe that is true. What a lovely beach it was. This is a watercolor I painted with instruction from Valeria Wilson who is a wonderful teacher. I believe she is still teaching in Smithfield,VA.

This is owned by Mrs. Herkamp of Vancleave, Mississippi.

Painting Personality

I managed this painting without ever meeting the dogs in the painting.

It is always best to get to know your subject matter. Painting portraits from a snapshot means you lose the feeling of personality. I only hope I caught a little of their personality for Jackie's parents who love these dogs. This painting is owned by Jackie Newman of West Point.

BESS

this watercolor/mixed media piece is simple but sweet

It is my idea of lovely Bess in her corner condo in Norfolk Va.

She has more class in her pinky finger than most in their whole body!

This painting is owned by Kelly Rice of Richmond...love ya Kel!!

20 below

glad I'm not in the cold anymore

Ah how fortunate to be warm in Honolulu.

This is yet another class study with bouncing colors, done in class in Williamsburg Virginia.

currently available

fish-i-ness

This is a watercolor that was a result of the first art lesson I took from Jan Ledbetter.

What a wonderful teacher and mentor she is for me. I hope you will look up her website.

Her paintings from Guadamala are stunning and she is winning awards for them

First Full Week In Honolulu

The art community in O'ahu is still a mystery to me. I have a list of contacts and hope to meet someone with studio space soon. I am also looking for Plein-aire groups in Honolulu.
If you come to this lovely island look me up and I'll paint with you. I am getting the word out that I give art lessons.
It is a long way from Fife and Drum paintings to Hula girls but it is a wonderful journey.

The picture on this post is owned by Andy Wallace of Aiken SC.