Windy day at the beach

Painted at Energy Lab Beach Friday. The breeze turned into a strong wind and soon I was hanging on to my canvas as much as painting. Did a quick one hour block in on a square canvas, concentrating on a nice abstract shape, and then finished it up at home. Even in paradise the weather at times doesn't cooperate. This beach inspires me to very abstract work as I've done several prior ones with the big foreground. 

Keauhou Store and Hapoepoe Beach

We painted at the Keauhou store today. I had done several before and 2 or 3 sold there during their fundraiser. This one is 8x10 and a view of the store and road. With the right frame I'll take it to the store and see if they want to market it with the others still there from our group. Below also is a larger, 12x20, from Hapoepoe Beach this week. I'm thinking of going larger while outdoors, or else smaller and looser. Maybe both, a sketch and then the larger work. Stay tuned.  

New work from past few weeks

Been busy and lazy lately both. Training for a half marathon next week has left me tired so put off touchups and photoedits for a while.  Below is recent work from outdoor sessions.

This top one is Hookena Beach, and one of my favorites lately as I feel I captured the landscape and the activity on the beach both. 

Below is the path at Kaloko Ponds, 12x12. Still not quite the feel of the light coming through the trees and will have to try a similar scene again.

This scene is from Honl's Beach where I added the two figures at the end to try and show the scale of the rocks. Figures might need to be slightly larger but it works OK for me
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This is another path scene at Manini Beach where I tried the light through the trees again and one of these days I'll capture it the way I want.

This was the second Manini Beach done the same day. Once I pushed the far mountain back by fading it out a little the scene works.

This week's Honokohau Harbor mouth park scene. Needed quite a bit of work at home as I deleted some rocks showing through the palm tree to emphasize the tree itself and it works better now. I rarely do a single tree like this but good to do a "portrait" once in a while. I also reworked it to show overlap of the palm leaves to make it more three dimensional.  

Downtown and Kukio Beach

Last two Fridays in town, at Kona Inn, and at Kukio Beach. Maui was showing its colors so most of us included it in the Kukio Beach scenes. Both of these are my usual 8x10. Top one is somewhat abstract in design as I included a long concrete wall that runs along the water at the Kona Inn.

Beach 69

This beach is named after the telephone pole that marked it's location. It's just south of Hapuna Beach about 30 miles north of Kona. Hapuna is best for swimming for Beach 69 has more scenery. I've painted the view north many times now so turned around and did the south facing view. As you can see, lots of folks enjoy the water here too. 

Beach Umbrellas

A great sunny morning at Magic Sands beach. Lots of people and beach umbrellas and I loved the red umbrella and chairs beneath it. Loads of people in the water jumping the waves.

More abstract landscapes

I'm using the same reference to do more colorful abstracted landscapes this week. These two are 8x6 and 5x7. Trying out more artificial colors for the lava rock although turned it into sand in the larger one. Working out the big foreground in various ways, and then adding the background ocean and trees. 

  

Abstract landscape

Combining my love of plein air landscapes and thick abstract paintings, using mainly palette knife. This is a 10x10 inch. Hope to do many more as I refine this as an additional technique. I made the lava rock in the foreground one big shape.

Rocky landscapes

Two paintings from the last two weeks. Both feature trees and a rocky lava rock foreground. Have to paint what you see. LOL. I'm looking at going very abstract on some of these in the studio and heightening the colors too. Stay tuned. 

Top one is 9x12 at Kaloko Ponds which is an old fish pond. Below is a view south from the Energy Lab beach. I've done this scene a few times before so tried to make this one more colorful with stronger contracts.   

  

Last two weeks outdoors

Two 8x10's from last two weeks outdoors. Had visitors so missed a week while sightseeing in Hilo. One of these days will have to go through my photo references and start painting some of the areas I don't visit often. Below are Magoon's Beach at the top, with the road there deteriorating again despite piles of bark that was supposed to be used to fill in some of the potholes. Piles been there a year. Maybe we need some volunteers with shovels? 

Below is Keauhou Bay from the south side. Had trouble with this one until lightened the water and added a surfer board and swimmer. and a few outriggers parked on the land in the background.

A redo and a new landscape

The top work is 12x20 inches and a retake over an earlier painting I was not satisfied with. I took a different scene but managed to keep much of the ocean and repainted it. Lots of thicker texture this way although at times it's in the wrong place but still works. 

Below that is a new 8x10 done at Kahaluu Beach, now only 1.5 miles from my house so a nice location chosen by our group to paint. I feel like I managed good color and value contrast on this one, plus finished with a nice loose brush stroke pattern. Been watching dvd demos or artists painting at the gym lately so always motivates me to loosen up and go for it.  

Upcountry view of Kona

We painted at a home above Kona today, almost up from my own home about a mile so I did another distance scene, similar to the smaller one I did in the last post. There was a jungle of gardens in the foreground that was difficult to handle. I also tried to use more paint right from the start to get a thicker texture overall which worked although I lost some subtlety in the scene but being extra bright and colorful is OK with me. 

Catching up after travel

Went to NC for a family visit and did some 6x8 inch paintings there from Hawaii references, plus also have a few other recent new works to post. 

Top image is an 11x14 from Beach 69 north of Kona. I'm now often putting figures in to show the scale of the volcanic rock on the island. 

Below is Honl's beach in Kona, looking north to town. I also included the small figure top right to get the scale correct in this 8x10 work.

Manini Beach is south of Kona. This view looks back to the end of the bay. Not my favorite work but some of the outdoor works are only partially successful. This is 12x20 and I got off on the proportions at first and tried to save it. 

These next four are 6x8's done during my trip. They are beach 69 again, then the waterfall at the Hilo botanical garden. I had wanted to do a view of Kona from the mountainside so did this small one for practice. Bottom is a cloudy view of Honokohau Harbor beach. I like the small works as often do more challenging scenes, plus I have some nice frames this size for successful works.      

Cruise Ship in town

We get cruise ships here every Wednesday and at times on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. This was a Holland America that showed up on Friday while we were painting at a beach at the old airport park north of Kona. It's the third time I've painted a portrait of a cruise ship and I find these fun to do. 

  

Several new works

Back to the beaches on Fridays so here are a few works. Top one is 8x10 at Kaloko Ponds where I turned away from the ocean and painted the pond and the mountain in the distance.

Next is the Hale or canoe hut at Honokohau Park, a favorite subject of mine. This was a 4x10 quick sketch in oil. I did a larger one that day put haven't edited the photo yet. 

Third down is the Captain Cook monument in the distance from across Kealakekua Bay.

Last is Kua Bay where I emphasized the sky that was fantastic when I arrived at 9 AM.      

Post move work.

Been busy moving so only painting on Friday mornings with our Kona outdoor group. Did three works of very similar style, fast and loose, with people enjoying the beaches shown much more than before. Top is Kahaluu beach park with St. Peter's church tucked in the trees. Then is Magoon's beach, and last is Magic Sands, now just over a half mile below the new house location. Sold a painting to an Alaska admirer recently and after I shipped the painting there I realized I didn't take a photo of it. Shows how the exhaustion of moving affects the brainpower. Glad that task is almost behind me.   

Latest Works

Been in the middle of buying a new home so missed a couple of weeks painting outdoors.

Here are the last few I've completed including past Friday's work.

Top work is 8x10 of figures on a beach. Have wanted to do this type of scene for practice. Might need a few touchups but feel for a first of this type with larger figures it's successful.
  

This is a view of Energy lab beach area, looking north toward the airport. I emphasized the  foreground and distant building and trees. Also 8x10.

This was Friday's work, also at  Energy Lab beach. If painting near the building, this lone tree is a great subject which I've painted several times now. Great clouds early I tried to capture before they blew away. 

  

Newest landscape

Again facing away from the ocean and rocks. This is the Energy Lab beach area. I liked the broad expanse of sand facing north toward an outbuilding at the horizon. Tried to get a lot of texture in the foreground sand and grassy areas. This is 8x10 and I did a smaller 5x7 of this scene also with a more yellowish tint. Might need to adjust the horizon line to make it a little more level?

   

Hualalai Mountain

Friday's  work, bottom, a distant view of Hualalai Mountain behind Kona from Pahoehoe Park on Ali'i Drive. Maybe next week I'll get back to water and rocks depending on the location we paint. This is my normal 8x10 outdoor size.

Also last Friday's work from Ali'i Drive, off Honl's Beach. I like putting roads into my work at times as it's what we see so often.