I love this location, and have painted in oil here on several occasions. It’s a marvelous spot, directly beneath the Doris Duke mansion “Shangri La”, over on the Diamond Head side of the island.
The first challenge is actually getting myself and my gear to this spot. One has to find their way here along a narrow and crumbled stone seawall which at higher tides is slippery and risky in some spots. This leads to the old stone yacht slip, a local hangout for young swimmers and their friends. Lots of curious people make their way over to see what I’m doing, which livens the experience up. Plenty of folks here have never met a working artist before.
I worked out the small color sketch (above) to decide what I was after, and started the finished piece (with compositional adjustments) on the following day. I find that the more preliminary consideration I give a piece, the smoother the sailing later on. I think that perhaps two more afternoons with good light should be sufficient to finish.
Here’s a shot of a day’s work on the final painting. I switched from the morning to afternoon light, which throws the white structure into shadow on the side facing me, but illuminates the great walls nicely. There are intriguing opportunities for placing figures, contrasts of light and shade, and integrating architecture into an almost jungle-like setting.