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.