Maui Back to Michigan
Okay...I've been back almost a week. Maui was wonderful, of course. How can it not be?! It's Maui! Anyway, I want to post my paintings. I had expected to produce more, but it was Maui! I mean, after all... I wanted to be out in the sun, seeing and doing things. Which I did. Which was good. I took an enormous amount of photos - I figured I can always use them for reference to create paintings back here in Michigan. I only did one plein air painting. I know... I should have done more... but I was seeing and doing things! I followed the Maui Invitational Plein Air Painters around the island here and there and watched them paint. That was interesting and educational.
Oh! And I did get to indulge in my other obsession - gardening! Do you have any idea how wonderful it felt to pull weeds and plant plants in February?! (Is my Michigan winter withdrawal showing?) It was wonderful! Sun, soil and willing hands - love to pull those weeds!
But I digress, back to my artwork. I had mailed my paints ahead so I wouldn't have to deal with airport security. Eventhough the paints were water-soluable oil paints, I didn't want to take the chance of them being taken from me. I also brought along a half box French easel, canvases in various sizes, pads of watercolor paper, drawing paper, watercolors, pencils, brushes - everything I could possibly think that I might want to dabble with while in Maui. The beautiful part of all this schlepping of supplies is that because my brothers live in Maui, I only brought back my brushes and pencils! Everything else stayed so that the next time I go, I only have to pack my brushes and pencils :) I really only had to buy the medium for the oil paints at the, and pretty much only artist supplies store on Maui, Upcountry Fine Art, a wonderful store/gallery in the town of Makawao, but, of course, I bought more paint, more colors. I mean, afterall, there were so many new colors... I had gone into the store so many times the first week I was there I started to worry the proprietress, Pamela (Aloha, Pamela!) was going to think I was stalking her!
I had never used the water-soluable oil paints before so I started out with a "test" painting:
Oh! And I did get to indulge in my other obsession - gardening! Do you have any idea how wonderful it felt to pull weeds and plant plants in February?! (Is my Michigan winter withdrawal showing?) It was wonderful! Sun, soil and willing hands - love to pull those weeds!
But I digress, back to my artwork. I had mailed my paints ahead so I wouldn't have to deal with airport security. Eventhough the paints were water-soluable oil paints, I didn't want to take the chance of them being taken from me. I also brought along a half box French easel, canvases in various sizes, pads of watercolor paper, drawing paper, watercolors, pencils, brushes - everything I could possibly think that I might want to dabble with while in Maui. The beautiful part of all this schlepping of supplies is that because my brothers live in Maui, I only brought back my brushes and pencils! Everything else stayed so that the next time I go, I only have to pack my brushes and pencils :) I really only had to buy the medium for the oil paints at the, and pretty much only artist supplies store on Maui, Upcountry Fine Art, a wonderful store/gallery in the town of Makawao, but, of course, I bought more paint, more colors. I mean, afterall, there were so many new colors... I had gone into the store so many times the first week I was there I started to worry the proprietress, Pamela (Aloha, Pamela!) was going to think I was stalking her!
I had never used the water-soluable oil paints before so I started out with a "test" painting:
"Rainbow Plumeria", 8" X 10", oil
My next painting was my plein air piece:
"Japanese Garden", 8" X 10", oil
The next two paintings are my beach paintings and they were the first experiments with palette knives:
"Wave Watchers", 12" X 12", oil
"Wave Watchers", 12" X 12", oil
"Beach Buddha", 12" X 12", oil
The two beach paintings were a combination of brushwork and palette knives. The next one was done completely with palette knives:
"Lahaina Sunset", 8" X 16", oil
"Lahaina Sunset", 8" X 16", oilI have to admit, using the palette knives was a blast! I love the layering and texture I can achieve so I will definitely be exploring the technique more.
So there you have it - the paintings I did in Maui. Along with the 1500 photographs I took, this is how I kept myself busy. Not a bad vacation from the snow, eh?
The final painting that I'm posting is the one I did for my brother's birthday, before I left. On my first trip to Maui, my other brother and I were out, on one of our photography adventures and we found this awesome, old truck on the side of the road. It had a "Free Truck" sign on it! When my other brother saw the the photo, he thought it was the coolest truck so this is the painting I did for him:
"Dano's Truck", 8" X 10", acrylic
So there you have it - the paintings I did in Maui. Along with the 1500 photographs I took, this is how I kept myself busy. Not a bad vacation from the snow, eh?
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