Now that I'm (nearly) done with my taxes, I can get back to more fun things. As promised, today I'm going to post all the paintings I did during the Maui Plein Air Invitational and talk about each one a little bit. I hope you enjoy them~
So the first one, Morning Calm, was done on day 1 of the event. The very first scheduled paint out, "the Kick-off" paint out took place in Lahaina, around Lahaina Harbor. Some artists painted boats, others painted the beach...there's so much variety in that one small area, it's a challenge to pick just one thing.
I had just arrived the day before and I hadn't had a chance to acclimate or to scout out a location, so I'm just jumping in cold. Plus the light was changing rapidly due to cloudy skies (it even rained while we were painting). Challenging, to say the least. It's hard enough to work under those conditions, but we were expected to finish a painting that morning, and display them for sale immediately afterwards. Talk about pressure!
I picked a relatively straightforward view / composition. The blue building provided a good focal point, and the rest are simple shapes to provide context, atmosphere, and mood. Other than the one juicy blue spot, I didn't want to have a lot of bright colors since I was going after the calmness of what I saw and felt at that time. (To be sure, the calmness was out there. Not in me - I was half panicked.)
I was pretty happy with my first painting. It sold, which makes it a great start to the week-long event.
Surf Study, 9 x 12 inches, oil on linen panel
In the afternoon, the weather was getting even more iffy and it looked like it could rain any minute, so I didn't want to commit to something substantial. I thought I'd drive around, find a beach, and try and do a study or two. Just practice. I had the whole week to do something I could show. I wasn't in any hurry.
This surf study was done in about an hour. Just looking at the moving waves and trying to catch the essence of it. The sky was gray and there was no sunlight, but the blue in the water was beautiful. I didn't really put much effort into composition, and it shows.
Her Daily Commute, 12 x 13 inches, oil on linen panel sold
Day 2. Sunday. I parked my car in the lot near Lahaina Harbor, and just plopped up the easel next to my car. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but I did want to paint town or street scenes. I do like painting man-made structures like buildings and cars, but they are not easy to draw. Especially if I know I'm not yet running full throttle, I have to find ways to ease into it.
If you'll notice, this view really is just an elevation view, and all the shapes are rectangles. (I'm talking about the structures) It doesn't involve any perspective drawing. No vanishing points, no converging lines. This is the easiest way to do a street scene, but it doesn't mean it has to look simple. By introducing some organic elements and strategically stacking the shapes (putting one thing in front of another) to create depth, I can get something that appears pretty complex.
The figure is a composite of many pedestrians walking to and fro. Capturing gesture is one of my favorite things to do, and well within my comfort zone there.
I simplified the palm leaves quite a bit. They're mostly just silhouettes, with just a few details. I think this is key. The more selective you are about information, the more meaningful the selected information becomes.
West Maui Mountains Study, 6 x 9 inches, oil on linen NFS
I really like this little study. It's a little one, 6 x 9 inches, and done very quickly. The wind was picking up and the sky was spitting a few droplets, and I just wanted to put something down on the canvas to feel like I was doing something.
I had planned to do a larger painting of the West Maui Mountains, something similar to one I did last year, so I intended this to be a study.
Boat Study, 9 x 12 inches, oil on linen
I don't know why I even bother with boats. I know nothing about them, and there are others who do beautiful, beautiful paintings with this subject because they know how and they love boats.
I kind of got stuck in the "study" mode and was having a hard time committing myself to something finished and show/sale-able. It's always good to just do something than drive around not painting. May be I was thinking I needed a challenge? I dunno. I remember not feeling it. And starting to feel guilty, too. I never finished this one either.
Holy Innocents, 12 x 9 inches, oil on linen available
We were having a conversation about color and someone jokingly (or may be they weren't joking) said, "brown paintings don't sell". So being a contrarian, I set out to do some brown paintings.
My palette consisted of White, Trans. Oxide Red, Yellow Ochre, Payne's Gray, and Asphaltum. This is a familiar palette for me - I use it often for cityscapes and figure studies, so I didn't have a problem adapting that to the landscape.
No, you can't match the colors that you see, but that's not even the point. Basically I identify the hue direction of a given color (green, or orange, or whatever) get it mixed in the right value, and stick it on. I can't use chroma to achieve impact, so I tried to emphasize value contrast where I could. Harmony is almost guaranteed with this way of painting.
Back on the Island, 12 x 9 inches, oil on linen available
The church painting got me up to speed, and I was ready to try something a little more complex. I saw this little alleyway a few days ago and had planned to paint it when the sun came out. I set up mid morning, and spent a couple of hours on this.
It's the same palette as the church painting, except for the tail lights, for which I used a brighter red. Having an isolated high chroma color really works well for an otherwise "brown" painting.
This is one of my favorites from the bunch. Unfortunately, I didn't plan well and didn't bring enough 9 x 12 frames, so this and a few other 9 x 12's were not shown. I have it hanging in the studio, and I'll have it available at my next show. (If you're in the bay area, and are interested in seeing this painting, or seeing me do a cityscape demo next month... Holton Studio Gallery in Berkeley, April 28th, 2pm. Come on over!)
Here's a tip for painting cars simply.
Paint them in direct sunlight, so that you can break them down to just two values one for the sunny parts, and one for the shadow parts. The rest, is getting the shapes right. For an illusion of complexity, sneak in a third value somewhere. (windshield? head lights?)
Puka Ka La, 14 x 16 inches, oil on linen, 14 x 16 inches, oil on linen sold
Now we're getting a little more serious because I've only got a few days left and I don't have any home-runs. Plein air events are like that. You can't just paint when you feel like it. You have to produce a number of good paintings in a given timeframe - they have to be good enough to show and sell, but also good enough compared to your peers so that you're not humiliated. Haha~ I will tell you about my very first plein air event in another post sometime. (Carmel, many years ago)
So I decided to drive to the other side of the island, to Upcountry to find some Old Hawaii vibe. As I was crossing the valley very early in the morning, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the West Maui Mountains waking up from the shadows. I stopped the car right then and there, and quickly blocked in the major shapes.
This light only lasted 10 minutes or so, so I worked from memory
for a while but I couldn't really trust my eyes or my memory at this point, so I packed it up and planned to return the next morning.
The image is the finished piece. I did come back the next morning, and luckily, the conditions were identical. This time I focused on nailing the color relationships. And after the light was gone (again, very quickly) I had the shape information from the day before, and the color information from this morning, and I stayed true to those to build the rest of the picture.
It's very subtle so it's not one of those paintings that jump out at you in a sea of more impactful paintings, but I knew someone would love it. It found a good home.
OK I have more to share but this post is getting a little long so I will stop here. Stay tuned for Part 2!
Morning Calm, 9 x 12 inches, oil on linen sold
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