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Touching the Sky, 18 x 18 inches, oil on linen available

The West Maui Mountains from Lahaina.I painted these same mountains last year, but with more of the foreground showing - with buildings and trees and such. This year, I wanted to focus on how the mountaintops touched the clouds, so I decided to eliminate other elements that seemed irrelevant to this notion. It was a difficult decision because the buildings and the palms were so picturesque, but I was determined to be clear about my concept. 

 

 

A little tip; If you want the clouds to be very bright, make the blue of the sky a little darker. Making the value of the sky darker also is a handy way to suggest harsh light because whatever that's white (or something else that's very light in local value) will appear a lot brighter. Don't overdo it, though. It can easily start looking gimmicky.

 

 

SPF What? 8 x 8 inches, oil on linen available

Oh wait. I have one more painting! 

Paradise Found, 12 x 21 inches, oil on linen available

This is a view from Lahaina Harbor at dusk. I had done a similar painting last year, and I wanted to do it in a longer horizontal format. I came prepared with a 12 x 21 inch panel and frame. I was going to go 12 x 24, but the 4 inch frame I had was too big to fit into the special box that I used to ship.  So I had to change my plans. It's these little logistical things that sometimes bog us down when all we want to do is paint!

Anyway, I started in the afternoon when the sun was still up high. I blocked in an underpainting with just brown (Asphaltum) and while waiting for the sun to go down, played around with mixing subtle peachy colors on my palette. The main ingredients are Alizarin, Cad Lem, Ultramarine and White - essentially the primaries plus white making a neutral color leaning toward orange. 

When the sun was low above the horizon, and that magic hour (20 min. really) presented itself, I blocked in the colors very quickly. I was able to work on refining the shapes and subtler transitions after the sun went down for may be about half an hour before I couldn't really judge colors anymore. Fortunately, I was able to work on the painting a little bit the next day, tying loose ends without going back to the location.

This second session away from the location is actually extremely helpful because it gives me mental distance and I can judge a painting for what it is, without being slave to what I'm seeing. Because I made most of the color and value decisions en plein air, I was able to hang onto the sense of place and time. 

And that's it for Hawaii paintings. I hope to go back next year and try something different!