Category: Painting in Hawai’i

This pastel is finally finished, except for the signature which will be added after placing the picture into the frame.  I decided that I’d try painting it on a soft Rives printmaking paper, with a very satisfying middle value olive-beige tone. It worked well.  The paper took the color very nicely, and allowed for sufficient repeat applications of pastel.  Just a touch of fixative was introduced in the darkest darks and developed lights.

Divers at Halona Cove pastel  14 x18″

The subject itself is one I’ve been working with for years, and  the challenges are tremendous for a plein-air approach.  Most everything is in movement, and the surges of water and sometimes wind can be  powerful and unpredictable. Because of this, the wave effects have to be determined  in advance, and then simplified.  Also, it’s very easy to overplay the already beautiful colors of  the water, so I prefer to make a point of following nature’s lead closely  by revealing the wonderful combinations of colors already presented  as truthfully as I can.

Preliminary 9 x 12″

The first days I had on this piece were remarkable for the clarity of the light…as with so many things in life, good weather seems like it should last indefinitely, though of course I knew it wouldn’t. We eventually were locked down by heavy rains for many days after the first few afternoons, so the final picture was eventually adjusted indoors, from memory.

Further work and enhancements.  Almost finished, I ‘m looking forward to some glaze work in the foreground rocks.  Some slight adjustments to tones and simplifications need to be made overall…I’m spending a lot of time looking at the painting upside-down and in the mirror.   What can I do to keep it moving?  Where is the water getting held up, and why?  Moreover, where can I simplify without loosing the look?

Makapu’u-Evening Sea oil on linen, 32 x 36″

A quick post on a current work-in-progress. It’s a 32 x 36″ oil, studio painting from a quarter-sized plein-air sketch.

First sketchbook indication.

After a week of overcast weather, I finally have been able to return to work on the painting.  The conditions this morning were ideal, and so I essentially spent an hour session going after the biggest color notes and  biggest shapes in the mountain itself, trying to get them established more fully.  I’d placed the sky color in the studio, allowing a lot of breathing room with the warm underpainting.

The paint takes on a nice quality as I develop it, one touch over the next, hopefully bringing it closer to truth. I need to build carefully to avoid notes that take way from the large effect, which is such an easy thing to miss. Some knife work will be in order; some of the textures and planes receiving the light  have just that sort of feel, as if the color were spread across the rough mountain face with a trowel .

Konahui’nui oil on linen, 20 x 24″

As for knife work, I seem to make a distinction between palette knives and painting knives.  I use a palette knife for cleaning the palette, either a big 3″ trowel or an actual hardware store paint scraper.  The painting knives are too delicate for anything but painting, and I reserve them for the occasions when I want the surface qualities they offer.  I’m still pretty cautious/selective in their use, but can see that changing as I become more familiar with them.  I’ve seen some remarkable use of painting knives in the hands of  Thomas Moran, Frederick Leighton, and others.

One idea is to mount painting knives onto the handles of paint brushes. I find it works wonderfully, especially if you have hands as large as mine!

Sunlit Surf-Lana’i Lookout 28 x 32″  Oil on Linen

Other than some minor adjustments, I consider this painting  finished. Now is the time where I move on to another painting and get this off my mind.  I love this point, because ironically, that  helps me come back to this piece with a fresh, objective eye after some time has passed, to see if it’s really finished.

I make that judgement based on a couple of factors. Going back to my original intentions, that sense of weight, power, and energy are as close to what I’m after as I think I can manage.  I’ve made some changes from the sketches; choosing to keep larger areas in shadow, shaping the rocks differently than I planned.  The main thing is that the eye moves through the composition as I wished it to, and the handling of the paint seems to me to be energetic and varied, without arresting the movement of the water more than necessary. I remember while doing the plain air sketch that there was a sense of the water actually “galloping” forward,  and I’ve tried to capture some of that.

While I move on to the next painting, I may come back to build some of the impasto areas more heavily after some drying, and possibly a warm glaze over the rocks in sunlight.

I always seem to hold out the great hope that “this time, I’ll really get it.”  “It”, for me, is the sense of creating a convincing, shimmering reality, all the while keeping the viewer fully aware that this is “only made out of paint.”  It’s the duality that one gets with good impressionism…it’s the absolute look of the thing being painted, and the paint itself, and you can’t decide where the thing ends and the paint begins…the awareness of both are simultaneously present.

I’m not there yet, but trying.