Among my favorite places to work, Eternity Beach (Halona Cove) lies at the base of an inactive volcano. It always offers a combination of rugged, arid beauty, contrasts of light, color, and texture, and a human element as well, such as swimmers or children.
Continue readingBack From Maui
Right after sunup, I hunkered down in the shade atop a stoney outcropping beside the highway. What I saw from there was enough to make me think “I could die now, a contented man.”
Continue readingYou hear it first, then you see it.
Went out at 6 AM to see what the ocean had going. The predicted storm never happened here, just a lot of moisture. Walking barefoot through the Ironwood trees, you hear it first. Then you see it. Every hour of every day it’s different, just like anything else. Always the same cast of players, but always a somewhat different story. 
All subtleties and tones, silvery lavenders. Alizarin and Viridian, the most unexpected pairing, works perfectly well here. There are no real darks to hang things on, only notes of color, some shapes and their placements. What little there seems to grasp must be made to count for something. Two hours, and it’s gone. But it stays in one’s mind, stored up for the future paintings.
Ocean off Kalama, 11 x 14″ oil
Frank Duveneck, Master of the Brush
An American trained in Germany, he started out with a reputation as an edgy, fresh talent, and collected a gang of admiring younger painters who followed him around Venice in a state of Bohemian worship. John Singer Sargent said of him, “After all’s said, Frank Duveneck is the greatest talent of the brush of this generation.” He would certainly know.
Continue readingIt’s Storm Time
The island we live on, Oahu, is expecting a tropical storm in the next 30 or so hours. It’s a weakened hurricane, from what I understand, but we can expect some serious wind and driving rains, to say the least.
These are a couple of oil pieces done in the thick of less-than-perfect weather…perhaps this storm blowing our way might be another opportunity to get some work done. It’s an exciting prospect!
Stormlight, 9 x 12″
untitled sketch, 8 x 10″
The initial lay-in, shot in my studio. After a busy month in July, a start on a seascape from one of my favorite locations. Nice to be able to get back where I belong.
About day 3.
The final painting.
So what exactly happened?
To such a student, if truly gifted, the challenge of crafting such a drawing would be a labor of love and science combined, a happy stripping away of crude and naive misconceptions of the form we inhabit in favor of enlightenment and refinement.
Continue readingIf my toys could speak…
Few things grab my attention like painter’s equipment from the old days.
Here is a little treasure I picked up many years ago, and it’s still functional. A traveling watercolor sketching kit, it was made in Germany and was sold under the Weber brand, which is still around, I think most visibly as the makers of Permalba White oil paint.
It’s at least 70 years old, based on the look of the logo. Totally self contained, the body of this portable palette holds about a pint of water and it sports a brass screw cap on the end. The cup, when attached, holds the water.
I always wonder about the designer of such a wonderful tool, and of course, who may have owned it. Where in the world did it travel to?