Outriggers at the Mudflats

OUTRIGGERS AT THE MUDFLATS

acrylic on canvas

$300.00

O'ahu Dreams

"Oahu Dreams"

graphic hawaiian florals

(acrylic on canvas)

$1500.00

O'ahu Dream

it was a dream

that then came true

saw it in pinks and oranges and blue

then came the greens

and there was no gray

and dark disappeared

 so I decided to stay



DAYDREAM MERMAIDS IN HONOLULU

"DAYDREAMING"

 mermaid moments

(acrylic on canvas)

$1500..00

When I was a Mermaid

I never got to dance

I day dreamed about a different life

so when I got the chance

I figured out a way

to live my life on shore

and now I watch the birds

and want to someday soar.

Never being satified

seems to be a curse

the grass may not be greener

sometimes different is just worse.

Love's a Crouching Lion

ALONG THE NORTH SHORE

Crouching Lion

If you drive on the North Shore of O'ahu there is a mountain formed from the Volcano called Crouching Lion. I painted it from the shore across the bay on Thanksgiving Day. I was alone that day, just me.
Perfectly content in my own little painters world with a view of Crouching Lion. Please let me know if you like it. It was the essence of the day , no details to worry with, just sweet and simple.

 Braddah LOVES a Crouching Lion
pouncing when you least expect.
sets your life all kapakahi
heart get crushed like big shipwreck

Braddah
love's a crouching lion
soft and plush and wild and strong
strength in love will over power
all that in this world is wrong

Braddah
love's a lion waiting ,
woozy dizzy takes it's prey
and be so smart to quick surrender
you be happy all your day

VENUS POSE

V

as in Venus

better than

ever

posing for

the photographer

never shy

pretending it's the shell

that should be observed

but no

it is she

(watercolor on full sheet hot press paper- $250.00)

notice the water spout in the backgound
like all beautiful women,  there is destruction close behind

BUCK TOOTH TIKI

 

THE BUCK TOOTH TIKI

Walk along the Hot Pink sand

 Find the Buck Tooth Tiki Man

See da mermaid 

 Give her a wink

 Buy dat girl an umbrella drink

(acrylic on canvas-prints for sale)

Lailani and Pu'u

                  Selling Flower Leis

Acrylic on Canvas

$750.00

.

Three Palm Paintings

LOTS OF NOTHING AT THE BEACH

I sat in shade

and the shade did move

I sat in water,

it dried

 I ran the shower

at the public bath

with bathers by my side

I got to the palms

and thought I'd relax

I took off my slippers and hat.

and laid on the sand

and pretended to sleep

there was whole lots of nothing

but that

I swam in the ocean

I waded a bit

I sat in the surf

where they'd break

I sifted the sand

though my suntaned hand

there was whole lots of nothing

but that.



Hibiscus City Girls

Hibiscus City Girls

acrylic on canvas

$1500.00

24 h x 30 w

Juxtaposed

high rise to sand

Honolulu City

Ko'olaus

peering down

on all the girls

so pretty

Ala Wai to Mauka

AlaWai to Mauka

view of the city from the AlaWai Canal

Acrylic on Canvas

$600.00

view of the aliwai from magic island with

the typical scene of rain in the mountains

as the sun rises over the city

                                  ALA WAI TO MAUKA 

photo of the city

Pirate Poem

Parakeet Pete

Often as the ship would sway

due to high winds off the  Chesapeake Bay

Pete would  disapear did seem

that he would hide aft of the beam

Tough as leather, a sailors tale

he was swallowed once by a killer whale

and he oft ate plank when rations were low

when he got a hang nail, he clipped his whole toe

So why is he no where to be found

when the going is tough he is no where around

and so  I hid in the Quarterdeck row

just to find out where exactly he'd go

and just exactly what he'd do

and I can't keep a secret so I'm gonna tell you

Long about four we were hoisting the jib

I heard that our Pete told a little white fib

he told the first mate he was feeling right frail

then excusing himself walked to the genoa sail

and hiding I watched in my stillness a hush

as Parakeet Pete took his paint and his brush

and rendered the sky and the mast

with such skill

I thought what a shame that he had to fake ill.

And it is no secret what secrets we keep

when as artists we worry so we don't say a peep

that in being a "maker" a "drawer" a "poet"

we love it but hate to let anyone know it.

And I thought of the secrets that other's have hid

I assumed so much worse that Parakeet did.

But it's easier roughing the highest of seas

than being creative with a public to please.

BANYAN TREE IN WAIKIKI

Speckled Walk

$1600.00

Acrylic Museam Wrap Canvas

2 ft h x 4 ft w

Speckled Walk

we took together

shaded by

the searching sun

keeping up our pace

our shadows

slowly melted

in to one

Eric Wiegardt Workshop

Eric Wiegardt is coming to town to give a 5 day plein air workshop for the Hawaii Watercolor Society.
It is a great chance to learn from a wonderful watercolor artist as well as experience O'ahu.
Take a look at Eric's site

.http://ericwiegardt.com/school-of-painting/workshops/

He will conduct the workshop from March 28th  through April 1st of 2011.
Please let me know if you are interested in attending.

BANYAN-----FAR REACHING

If  I were a bird and wanted a large mansion of a tree to live in, this would be my first choice.

Kristen Olson Studio

http://kristenkofsky.com/

Hop on to Kristen's site and see the work of an oil painter and art teacher that captures the heart
of Kailua and Lanikai.

Punahou Carnival Submission

picture taken on the 14th of January 2011

This painting has to get finished in 2 weeks

PUNAHOU
gotta get ready for the gallery show
yiks
counting down the days

currently called speckled walk

this  Banyan painting is in progress

this painting will be at the Art Gallery

during Punahou Carnival

50% proceeds  of sales will go

to the scholarship fund

ART PROJECT - getting ready for Punahou Art Gallery

just a little walk

from Punahou school

to my place in Makiki

you will find

me painting

I am

getting ready for

the Punahou Carnival Art Gallery

Punahoe Carnival

2011

 

just up the street from

Punahou

you will find me

painting

Digg'in Dia'mon

Volcanoe in the distance

Beaches over flow

Teal and Pink reflections

in the Island undertow

Promise me a sunset

colors that surprise

and lull me in a hammock

and feed me full of lies

I want to hear I'm beautiful

I want to hear I'm sweet

I want to drink the coconut

with slippers on my feet

HOW TO PAINT A BANYAN TREE

HOW TO PAINT A BANYAN TREE

Take initial photos after finding a tree that has lots of light shining through

Study the tree and stay to draw it outdoors with 4 thumbnail sketches

In addition a trial run fast painting will help you get familar with the tree.

Below is a large initial painting using watercolor pencils and adding acrylics.

It is very loose and very fast. The goal is not a finished wonderful painting but instead

a simple rough draft that allows you to adjust your ideas and revisit those areas you realize

might be difficult. I suggest that it helps to just paint everything in the background cool

and everything in the foreground warm so that you can be sure how to approach the final painting

(This initial photo was supplied by Dani, thank you)

Paper copies to trace shapes

I usually get 5 or 6 paper copies of my photo.

Use the paper copies to trace shapes. I suggest one copy to trace large light

shapes, one to trace large dark shapes and then go over top of those using a different color

marker to trace around small light or dark shapes. This exercise will get you familar with

the organic shapes supplied by the shade of the tree and shadows in the tree crevices.

It is important to note that the ground shapes are oblong obliks that go all to one direction.

This direction will make it clear as to where the sun's position was in the sky.

Canvas size

Purchase a canvas that is suitable for the subject. It is a mammoth tree and works well on a big canvas.

It can be painted small but you won't get the opportunity to get to know every inch of the tree.

This is your chance to fall in love with a Banyan so please do so. I am using a 24x30 gallery wrap.

Now the paint.

It is important to provide this amazing tree with the dignity of all it's speckled light. I use lots of white, lemon yellow, pinks and light cadmium yellow to cover my canvas in very bold stokes. I try very hard to show the brush strokes and leave large stokes of full pigment. This means there are strokes of pure cad. yellow

beside pure white , beside pure pink in some spots. It makes for more excitement. It is a painting so be paintery. Do not try to duplicate the photo, that job is for photographers.

Initial Layout

I use masking tape applied directly to the canvas to lay out the options of placement for the major subjects.

Then I just STARTED painting them in rough in burnt oranges ( brighter than the tree would appear to the eye so that you get some POP as an underpainting)

Divide Horizonally

(in thirds or fifths)

Now that a look at where you want your horizonal perspective.

I take masking tape and apply it to the canvas to show where I want the darkest part

of my land mass to stop, then the lightest part, then the sky then the underneath of the tree ..etc.

In other words, there is a light/dark change going bottom to top horizonally.

You want to determine that and stay very focused on keeping with that

value so you get a strong composition.

Value

I am still just playing with the placement of the trunks and endless  knarly parts. It will mess with your eyes to try to figure out each tiny detail. This is why it is so smart to draw on location a LOT first. The more familar you are with the way a banyan grows the better able you wil be to attack the painting with confidence.

Here I had to stop and really assess the values I was laying in . The foreground trunks needed to be darker than the photo and the background needed to be lighter than the intial wash I laid in ...so I am still adjusting.

To get depth I want to give strong light and dark contrast. I am not there yet, but that is where I am going.

Dark Values and Grey

When you start with vibrant color you will need to get grey in your painting.

Most art teachers will refer to this as local color which is the color that you see

unmodified. It is the most obvious color that abounds on your subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_color_(visual_art)

In the case of the Banyan, the trunk initially appears just grey,

and more grey with dark grey. If you were to just paint with only

local color for your banyan you would find it very boring.

If you are trying to find your OWN PERSONAL view of a banyan

I suggest seeing a banyan at different times of day and also through

great sunglasses! If you take away the glare of the sun on your Banyan

you will see lots of colors dancing.

If you don't see it, then imagine the dark of the tree having all darkest values of

all the colors and the light parts of the tree having all the colors of the color wheel in their

lightest or brightest value.

Then let  yourself paint.

The most boring grey is black and white mixed together.

The best greys are mixed from many colors on your palette then adding some white or black.

Getting MANY greys from your palette would be the most

exciting way to paint a Banyan. It is a tree that has seen a lot of years, let it reflect

all of that with color...regal colors, bright colors, warm colors..etc.

The more excitement you can lend it with color, the more likely it will

come alive.

Here I have put in the dark shadow under the tree (may be a little too dark but will lighten with some blue

and keep some warm burnt sienna and oranges on the ground as well .

The Greens were added today. I am always intimidated by the leaves.

Here is my advice. Leave a good amount of organic (irregular) shapes of light or "see thru" for the sky to peek through. Use a light glaze of interesting mixes of purples and blues and crimson.

A light wash will allow it to appear as though the leaves fade in to the sky around the edges.

After the wash dries, add the darker greens. I load my brush with a speak of other color once in a while to

just add interest.

Do not be afraid of random colors popping in to your painting.

You will start to notice the full prism of colors in everything you see.

Light plays on all flat solid colors during the day.

A flat green leaf is never just GREEN.

Magic Island in Honolulu

Shade Tree

to good to be true

At Ala Moana

Beach Park

with a view

of the

Ewa Side

of

the island

of O'ahu.



little yacht club on the Ala Wai

Hawaii Yacht Club

across the Ala Wai from Magic Island



YOUTH

YOUTH

acrylic on mahogany board

A painting of a tree trunk with a small confident palm upstart sneaking in to make a home at it's  roots.

I painted this "start" at Manoa Chinese Cemetery high above Honolulu.

This large tree stands at the top of the space they call the Dragon's Pulse.

I had to giggle at the little palm that decided to grow in the root system

of this old split tree. The large tree provides great amounts of shade

and I have seen many artists at their easels  fit under the cool umbrella of leaves to paint.

It would be difficult to get a great camera shot of this tree and the massive shade. BUT, the trunk itself is split in two and the light streaming through in the early morning lit the palm leaves to chartreuse. It looks like the entrance to Nirvana.

Halona Blowhole

Sandy Beach and Halona Blowhole

Action packed Sandy Beach where the Halona Blowhole makes a scene

There is only one way to paint this

Quick, with movement

Anything less vibrant would do it an injustice

If you stand where I parked my wobbley easel

and look towards this cliffline jetty

you will sway from the wind and be pulled in to the sea

This is not home to mermaids and fantasies

This is home to locals who know these waves like their own heartbeat

it's as real as it gets

plenty of boogie boarders that thought they could, failed

no mercy here,

but plenty of joy on the faces of those that are one with this current



sweet shade

Sweet Shade

Come Visit Hawaii

come paint at Ala Moana Beach Park

with me

I'll let you stand in the shade

Wahiawa Botanical Gardens- Heliconia or Caledonia

please note, this is a HELICONIA not a Caledonia but the lyrics work either way

CALEDONIA

I don't know if you can see


The changes that have come over me

In these last few days I've been afraid

That I might drift away

I've been telling old stories, singing songs

That make me think about where I've come from

That's the reason why I seem

So far away today



[Chorus:]

Let me tell you that I love you

That I think about you all the time

Caledonia, you're calling me, now I'm going home

But if I should become a stranger

Know that it would make me more than sad

Caledonia's been everything I've ever had



Now I have moved and I've kept on moving

Proved the points that I needed proving

Lost the friends that I needed losing

Found others on the way

I have kissed the fellas and left them crying

Stolen dreams, yes, there's no denying

I have traveled hard, sometimes with conscience flying

Somewhere with the wind

ABUNDANCE CAN KNOCK YOU OUT

JABONG

(or Pomelo)

Sound asleep as I was, the thud of the Jabong fruit woke me immediately.

The fruit is said to symbolize abundance. It is a very large-ish grapefruit

and can get bigger than a basketball! I call it a "KABONG" and when you

hear it you will understand why.

The abundance is evident in the Jabong.

It is surprisingly large with a sound on the roof like thunder's first crack.

It takes effort to peel and tons of endless seeds that initially

look like lots of crooked teeth lined up in the mouth of

a soul unable to afford braces.

It is a surprise, a big fat, unusual surprise.

The neighbors around say the tree in the side yard is yielding a smaller fruit that usual, due to the drought.

AHHHH, if that is the case, then the larger fruit falling on the roof could wake up a whole neighborhood.

sunbathers in red

watercolor and gouache

"RED SWIMSUIT"

by Rebecca Snow

it ain't easy being beautiful

the find

"A FIND"

watercolor

by Rebecca Snow

There have been great "finds"

on Oahu

too bad you can't keep everything you find

somethings are just for admiring

and leaving on the shore

Mary Philpotts McGrath and the Milestones

Mary Philpotts painted today.
She painted with the others that came to Ho'omalahia with the Hawaii Watercolor Society.

She painted all day and I joined the group late. She painted after everyone left.

Before I left I talked to Mary about her successes.
She told me she won the Hawaiin Graphic award
at the Annual Watercolor Society Show.

Then without hesitation she began to encourage me.
She asked if I'd entered any shows. She urged me
to enter the Japanese Chamber of Commerce show.
Then she explained something that I needed to hear.



She said that artists need milestones. Points in their creative
life where they can pinpoint success even if it is merely in
the effort of submitting work. The process of filling out the submission form and framing the art work and delivering the
pieces to the location and meeting the other artists is essential to creating that much needed milestone.

Below are 4 watercolors that Mary painted in Tahiti recently (wow)!

Take it from Mary, you have to get there early, and stay late and paint. You have to
submit your work and create the milestones. You have to get your work out there to be seen.
The MILESTONES are important.

Thank you Mary Philpotts for being around today when I needed to hear just those words.

'A Rockin' Shaka to You from Patrice Federspiel, Art of Aloha'

'A Rockin' Shaka to You from Patrice Federspiel, Art of Aloha'


I promised to give you all a little education on the SHAKA and here it is.
The free postcard is a cool offer from Patrice. It is a sweet piece of framable art.
Gotta love the sentiment behind a SHAKA.