Hanalei Sketch

This was done from memory after I returned home. Nothing is taken from the actual landscape but what I loved about that area is here. Though the earth is red with iron and visible in places, I used this orange hill to emphasize the overwhelming fertility.
oil on paper 6"x6"



available work [updated]

Kauai 3

This is the Alakai Swamp. I recognized much of the vegetation as the 'houseplants' I`ve seen all my life. My guidebook said this is one of the few places in Hawaii where you can walk in the clouds. The goal with the painting was to depict the tangle of growth through purely painterly means. That sounds obscure but it means that the process had to be fun. Not methodical. So through quick gestures,  piling and pouring on paint, then smearing, blotting, scraping and carving through the wet surface until it coalesces into something that felt like that rainforest.
oil on panel 20"x20"

Kauai 1

 While my memories of Hawaii are fresh, I`m trying to get them down quickly.  As usual, I have some photos to help me structure a composition and then I imagine the experience as I paint. What did I notice most?
  Then I started to look for painting panels online. I found them but in just the standard rectangles past 12x12. It was frustrating because I wanted a size with more of a presence.  Wood was crucial rather than canvas because I could achieve more transparency on the hard surface. This was important because water is everywhere on the north shore. Discouraged and resigned to canvas, I then remembered Craigslist! I had seen local ads for panels several times before. Sure enough, one was right there. Within a day I had a deal with Steven of Panel Vision, and a few days later he brought me ten custom crafted and primed 20x20 panels at $30 apiece. They are wonderful and my Kauai series is underway.
oil on cradled panel 20"x20"