Saturday, October 15, 2011

Maui Big [oil, 8”x10”]

maui big (2)

This fall I’ve got a busy agenda of travel and visits.  First up was Maui for a week with the ladies of my family.  We had a wonderful time and I enjoyed snorkeling every day but the last.  During this trip, I spent a lazy afternoon on Big Beach just south of Makena.  I’d hoped to snorkel for one last time but the red flags were up due to shore break.  So, we just soaked up the sun on the beach.  About 20 minutes of that is plenty for me.  So I took off for a little beach walk and decided to climb the rocks between Big Beach and “little beach”.  I was rewarded with this view back down the south shore of Maui – gorgeous!  It was SO worth the climb!

This painting was a struggle technically.  First of all, I’m not really painting what I’m most familiar with – I’m a landlubber.  Secondly, the people are essential to the perspective and I struggled with them, scraping them off twice.  Thirdly, my paint spent 2 weeks in the freezer between paintings and although it was fresh enough, I fought to get to the fresh paint under the skins…  just a learning curve thing for me.  Today I scraped my plein air box and set up a larger palette that completely seals.  That will help combat the skinning issue. 

Kristian, my 11 year old grandson, is here from Ontario for a 2 week visit.  We’re having lots of fun.  Grandpa has had a few days off of work so he’s taken him on several outings.  I’ve set up an area for him in my painting room and we’ve been puttering in there together.  He loves to draw and paint…  I think this science fiction looking guy is so fun!  He’ll be heading sci fi arthome October 24th.  The falling day I fly to Tokyo to spend some time with my daughter Candice and her family.  I’m excited to meet Kole, the newest little member of the Potter family.  Cheers!