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.