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Black Sand Sunset

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There are many different kinds of beaches…they all have their perks. The gulf coast of Texas might not win a beauty contest, but the sand builds the best castles. The beaches of Cuba have meters and meters of shallow water after the waves break, which make them perfect for kiddie swimming. Rocky beaches can have the most wonderful water because the sand doesn’t mix in the tide and muddy the colors. In my opinion, black sand beaches have the most wonderful sunsets. The water rests on the beach after the tide comes in like a mirror, reflecting whatever is happening in the sky. You reach this particular beach by walking through an Ironwood Pine forest. The Ironwood pine is unique in my experience, it’s needles droop downward in the most beautiful, dream like way, and its cones are teeny tiny, about the size of a marble rolled into more of a pine cone shape.

As an artist, the forest and the black sand make for an easy dark to make an interesting composition this time of day. I love sunsets, you have to work fast or light changes, so it allows for a quick, energetic study. I almost missed this sunset, the more dramatic colors were before I set up.

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Wake up! Wake up!

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The roosters remind me of children on Christmas morning, they are so excited it is ALMOST day that they want to share it with everyone. Note I said ALMOST day. I did some research as to why there are so many roosters in Kauai. Here is what I learned: 1. the chickens have no predators except the occasional feral cat or house dog, all the other islands have a mongoose that keeps their populations in check, 2. Hurricane Iniki (1992) destroyed some chicken farms blowing the chickens out onto the island, and 3. they were fighting cocks (1800s) that were released into the wild because they were female, or injured. The last reason may explain why they are perhaps the most handsome of all the chickens I have seen in my life.

Cock a doodle doo! Get up and hit the trails, it is time…or it least it might be by the time you have made coffee and put on sunscreen, so why not get up anyway?

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Middle Tide

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I photographed this painting in its micro plein air setting. I lift out the tin of paints and use the empty box bottom as a palette, and water cup. The bottom corner holding my water, and then then I use the upper part to mix my colors. The tiny system works great, I encourage any artist out there to make there own, mine is made of mint tins and half pallets of water colors.

I painted this on a break from snorkeling. The ocean was composed of many blues and greens which made it fun to paint. The multicolored fish under the water, the seal napping to my left, and the turtles popping up their heads you will just have to imagine.

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Campsite in Paradise

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That little tiny yellow green triangle is a tent. The thin white lines are a waterfall. It is facing one of the most beautiful beaches in the world – but you have to earn the view…getting there requires crossing several mountains and valleys on foot. This is perhaps the tiniest painting I have ever done, it is 3″x 2″ and the paint set is about the size of a pink pearl eraser (we were backpacking).

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A Walk in the Woods

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If you have not read Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods,” let me recommend it now. It is perhaps the funniest book I have ever read, and I wonder if we are headed on our hike with equal measures of poor planning. I am packing today, tomorrow night, my dear husband and I will sleep on the trail! We probably camp and hike more than the average person, but we haven’t headed into the wilderness with every thing we need for survival on our backs much since we had children. So we have laughed as we dusted off our decades old supplies. We decided to adopt a hybrid approach between the new movement of ultra light backpacking, and the old standard approach, thus ensuring our packs will weigh a ton, but we will still be sleeping in a bag liner, and using a stuff sac filled with dirty socks as a pillow! I sawed the handle off my toothbrush, so I could take a paint brush, so if I can still lift my arms at the end of the days, I will try to do some studies.

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Sunrise LBJ national grasslands

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I painted this a few years ago at the LBJ National Grasslands, near Decatur, Texas. We head over for the trail marathon every year. The race has rolled around again, and perhaps I will be able to sneak in a few studies between checking on my boys today. This is a complimentary color study in violet and yellow, and some neutral grey-violets. I love energy of these colors together.