"Kauai Sunrise" (oil on stretched canvas; 24" x 24" x 2 1/4")

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A few years ago, my family spent a blissful week in the tropical island of Kauai.  On the last day of our vacation, I got up early to greet the dawn.  As the blinding light almost obliterated the divides between the sky, sea, and beach, I felt melting in the warm, all-embracing light.  "Kauai Sunrise" is based on a sun-bleached photo I took that morning.  Isn't my painting much cooler?  What do you say?

The reference photo

Collage of My June Paintings

Collage of my June 2014 paintings

I was very productive last month.  I had to drop several paintings for this collage of my June 2014 paintings. What do you think?  Which painting is your favorite?

"Sail into the Sunset" (oil on stretched canvas; 24" x 24" x 2 1/4") sold

Collage of "Sail into the Sunset" (12" x 12" on the left; 24" x 24" on the right, sold)

I may be onto something big with my new pointillist style.  A collector saw the painting on the left on my Etsy shop and contacted me to ask if I could paint a larger version.  Of course, I could.  She asked for more reds and dark blues.  No problem.  The deal was made within a few hours and I sold the largest and highest-priced painting ever on my Etsy shop that day!

I showed the pictures of the almost finished painting to Janet yesterday.  She loved it!  The painting is going to be a surprise present for her husband who loves Hawaii.  Everybody is happy.  Ah, I love my job.

"Sail into the Sunset" viewed from the left

"Sail into the Sunset" viewed from the right

"Sunrise Beach" (oil on linen; 10" x 10") sold

sold

The blinding light of a sunrise envelops a beach in Kauai.  Everything shimmers.  A fleeting moment of an utter bliss.

"Sail into the Sunset" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

sold

Sail into the sunset with me.  It is Kauai.  The weather is balmy.  Silence and beauty surround us.

"Kauai Sunset" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 16") sold

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Two winters ago, my family spent an idyllic week on the island of Kauai.  Oh, what a week it was!  My favorite time of the day was sunset.  Every sunset at Poipu Beach was more exquisite than ever.  On the last evening of the vacation, my heart ached because I had to leave the paradise.

"Tropical Escape" (oil on linen; 9" x 6") sold

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In the last post, I said something about not having to go to Europe or a tropical paradise for a wonderful family time.  I still stand by my statement.  Yet.  I will go to any of the Hawaiian islands in a heartbeat!  My family seem to go there every eight years or so.  Last time was two winters ago.  We spent a fabulous week in Kauai, the Garden Island.  I saw ripe mangoes, bananas, grapefruits, etc. hanging in the trees everywhere in February!

On the way to some place, we caught a glimpse of a lovely beach.  We pulled over and scrambled down to the beach.  We stood along a narrow strip of a secluded sandy beach.  The view was breathtaking.  It was a perfect spot to spread out a picnic basket and loll on the beach. We took some pictures and climbed back up to the car with a happy feeling that one gets after a spontaneous adventure.

"Hawaiian Sunset" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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The sun sets in the Big Island, Hawaii.  The orange sky glows against the grays and soft pastels of the ocean and the dark volcanic lava rocks. Very peaceful.

"Kauai Surfer Dude" (oil on linen; 10" x 10") sold

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I may be a tad too old for surfing in this life, but in my next life I would like to do some surfing! Preferably in Kauai.  Like this guy.

By the way, I will be participating in Leslie Saeta's September 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  That's a lot of paintings!  I have never painted that many and blogged that often in a month.  Do you think I can do it?  Let's make it a team effort!  Please send me your pictures to kimstenbergart@gmail.com.  I am waiting for your pictures of pets, houses, vacations (without people in them), favorite places, gardens, hometowns, etc.  I will do a drawing and give one painting away at the end of September.  Thanks!

"Kauai Rooster" (oil on linen; 8" x 8") sold

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Some birds are born to rule.  Look at this Kauai rooster with a red crown.  Kauai is called the garden isle for its lush vegetation.  Now people are calling it the chicken isle because it is overrun by roosters, hens, and little chicks!

Most of the birds are believed to be descendants of former fighting cocks unleashed during a devastating hurricane more than a decade ago.  The birds now forage at outdoor food courts and parking lots, and ruin sugar cane and corn crops.  They wake islanders and tourists with predawn crowing.

When we first saw them, we thought they were exotic and fun.  We took gazillion pictures.  But there were just too many of them to remain excited.  Some resourceful islanders capture them and put them in a chicken coop for future dinners.  The wild hens are edible, but remain tough even after hours of cooking.  How about roosters?  Well, as I said, they rule the island.

"Sunset Beach" (oil on linen; 9" x 12")

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I did four pet portraits in a row for my Facebook fans and am now totally out of pictures.  While waiting for more pictures to arrive in my inbox, I thought I would go on an artistic vacation.  This is a sandy beach in Kauai, where my family vacationed in early 2012.  We saw several sunsets there, all of which were spectacular.  The sunset doesn't last long, but what a golden moment it is!

"Bougainvillea Country" (oil on linen; 6" x 8")

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Reference photo

Where I live, bougainvillea is something you see in the US Botanic Garden on The Mall.  I gather it is a tropical plant, although at the moment with the temperature dangerously hovering near 100 degrees, northern Virginia feels quite tropical!

Bougainvillea at the US Botanic Garden

While driving around in Kauai back in February, I spotted this charming, bougainvillea-covered, scene. Wow!  As a matter of fact, bougainvillea was quite common in the island.  Lucky Hawaiians.  The flowers seem to come in rainbow colors, my favorite being magenta as in the reference photo.  When I first saw the entire country road smothered in bougainvillea, the light was not right.  We went back a couple of days later, to take a whole bunch of pictures, which became inspiration for the painting.

"Kauai Waves" (oil on canvas; 10" x 10" x 1 1/2")

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It looks like there won't be a vacation for us this summer.  My daughter, who is starting high school in the fall, wants to march in her school's marching band.  They have two weeks of training in August, which is ABSOLUTELY mandatory.  There goes our trip to Minnesota to visit relatives and the state fair.  She is disappointed, but one can't march and eat soft-serve ice cream at the same time.  Life's tough choices.  Sigh.

I must console myself by doing lots of vacation-themed paintings, starting with Kauai waves.  Do you know that the Hawaiians invented surfing?  Winter is apparently the best season for surfing in Hawaii.  When we were in Kauai in February, there were high-surf warnings everyday.  I saw quite a few surfers at Haena Beach captured in this painting.  I don't surf, but it sure was fun to watch surfer dudes in action.

Surfer dude

By the way, "Kauai Waves" continues to the 1 1/2"-wide edges for the maximum cool effect! 

"Kauai Waves" viewed from the left side

"Kauai Waves" viewed from the right side

"Kilauea Lighthouse on the Cliff" (oil on linen; 14" x 11") sold

 

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The reference photo for "Lighthouse on the Cliff," taken during the second visit

The second visit to Kilauea Lighthouse; Can you see the rainbow?

When I am at my home base, I choose a plein-air painting location from my previous experiences. There are several favorite places, to which I keep going back for better or worse. No big surprises. I know exactly what scenery will greet me when I get there.  However, I have never been to Kauai, so I didn't know what to expect. There has been hardly any snow in this exceptionally warm winter. Kauai was about 20, not 50, degrees warmer than northern Virginia, so the thrill in landing suddenly at a tropical island was somewhat diminished, temperature-wise. Still, the island was breathtakingly beautiful in any angle, altitude, and weather.

The first time when I saw Kilauea Lighthouse on North Shore, I wished I could paint the awe-inspiring sight then and there. But it was raining heavily (do you know that Kauai is one of the wettest places in the world?), which forced us to wait in the car for half an hour until the rain let up a little for picture taking. Later that day, we stopped by at the lighthouse for the second time. The rain had stopped and a rainbow was draped over in the sky! The lighthouse itself glowed as if it was spotlit magically. It was getting late, however. I vowed to return to paint it another day.

Red-footed boobies

On the third and final visit to the lighthouse and Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on a windy, but sunny day, we saw red-footed boobies, Laysan Albatross and other birds, which nested at the Refuge cliffs. My heart swelled with an unusual, I-am-lord-of-the-world, kind of emotion, as I was standing high at the lookout, looking down at the soaring birds!

"Kilauea Lighthouse, Kauai" (opaque watercolor, 15" x 11")

Sketching the lighthouse

I found a relatively sheltered spot at the lookout and painted "Kilauea Lighthouse, Kauai" in opaque watercolor, clutching the paper in fear of losing it to the Pacific Ocean.  The lighthouse was painted in last over the blues of the ocean.  You can do that in opaque watercolor!  Of course, I wasn't "done" with this place.  "Lighthouse on the Cliff" was painted in the controlled environment of my studio, away from the ocean breeze, crashing waves, and swooshing birds.  One can't have everything, can she?



"Crashing Waves" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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Reference photo for "Crashing Waves"

My teacher, John Murray, believes that a viewer can tell whether a painting was painted with joy and fun or with anguish and frustration.  I absolutely agree with him.  Sometimes I work on a painting to death and it shows.  Maybe it's the complicated drawing or muddled value scheme.  I work at it with a sheer determination, but without joy. 

Not "Crashing Waves."  I spent many hours staring at waves during my recent trip to Kauai.  You can, of course, try to analyze the way waves are formed from the physics point of view, as my husband did.  For me, it's the colors of the ocean, waves, their shadows, etc. that are spellbinding.  I took many pictures; while going through them on computer screen, the above photo caught my eye.  I loved the aquamarine sea, white foams, and dark, moss-covered rock.  Look at the wonderful shadows of the rock!

Although I was still tired and didn't quite feel up to painting, the creative juice started pulsing through my artistc veins.  I painted fast and furiously with joy.  After the multi-colored rock and waves were laid down, I lathered thick white paint to mimic sea foam.  What fun!

"Snorkeling Fun" (acrylic collage on paper, 20" x 14") sold

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Are you tired of the winter and wish to get away to a place where the sun shines and the air is scented with tropical flowers?  Here is a painting that will whisk you away to such a place.  One winter it snowed so much that we couldn't take it any more, so we escaped to Maui for a week.  Soon after we came back, I created this painting in acrylic. 

All the pieces--figures, corals, and tiny swirling orange fish--were cut out from separately painted paper and collaged on a dark blue ground.  A lot of work, but also soothing for a detail-oriented person like me!