But Not For Me, Part 1

 

Rest Now. Kona Coast 2023

Having lived for a short while on the Big Island, I had grand intentions of visiting friends... going to the beach and seeing the volcano. But instead it was quiet times working, walking, enjoying the beach and just resting. 

Grand Tetons, Spectacular Storm

 I had an incredible opportunity to go backpacking in the Grand Tetons last year and witnessed a storm that shone gold on the Tetons, rainbows, and poured forth the rain of the gods on my friend and I while we were camping. It's weirdly difficult to paint a scene that spectacular, as the colors of purple, molten gold, and rainbows are not ones that come up a lot in our lives... and thus it looks kind of fake. 

Not sure if this is close to done or not, need to sit with it and see what it and see if any parts of it start to bother me, or if I end up loving it as-is.

This is my second oil painting. It's interesting working with oil... it certainly forces you to go slowly which works well with my very busy work schedule. But, I have trained myself to work with acrylic so long that it's oddly difficult for me to paint with what is largely an 'easier' media for more professional artists... or so I've been made to understand. 

One interesting and random facet I've learned is that because acrylic dries so fast you have to do all of something in one paint setting. So it takes me a lot of build up to do a sky, for example. For oil you have to pre plan the layers meticulously because it takes so long to dry, it just needs to be done correctly from back to front. So both require a lot of planning, but in different ways. It's a nice flex. 

Kohala Coast, Hawai'i

 Recently got a chance to head over to Hawai'i which got me painting again. I got a few small watercolors out of the trip and figured I'd start posting again a bit.

This is from a spot along the Kohala Coast on a windy, wild feeling day at an old settlement along the coast. Probably one of the more beautiful spots we visited on a trip that was a largely lazy beach trip.