Kaloko-Honokohau Plein-air

WIP (actually remembered to take a few photos)

Kaloko Honokohau National Historical Park

The Kaloko Honokohau National Historical Park is not too far away from Kailua, and a beautiful place, very meaningful for native Hawaiians, and everyone!

We spent several hours here. It is the first time I have ever plein-air painted in my swim suit! 

(There will be NO photos of me painting, unless major cropping is done.)

Anyway, here is the initial sketch ...

 yes ... I put some words in the sketch to help me remember what was what ...

Here is the setting. We set the bestbrella up but didn't really need it. It was there in case the sun dappled through the leaves and onto the palette or panel.

Here is my beginning. Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to post the rest.

Meanwhile today is Thanksgiving.

 ~ Hau’oli La Ho’omakika’i ~

I wish all of you the best Thanksgiving ever! I am thankful for all of my family and friends far and wide AND so thankful I am able to paint.

 
 

Punalu'u - pau!

Okay, I should not have said "tomorrow I will post" ... 

because there is too much to do and I didn't get the chance to tinker with this until today! Why? Because I actually was able to paint today and had everything out, so it was easy.

 This is me just getting started. 

Seeing this, the thing I wanted to remember to post is that I used one of the Pandanus tree fruits as a paintbrush to put the base paint layer down (underpainting if you will) over the gesso a few days ago. I made it a brilliant orange because orange and blue are beautiful complements that I love, and I thought I just might be painting some ocean scenes :)

Here it is mostly finished on the "easel" pochade box, in situ.

I had to tweak it a bit so there would be some contrast in the coco palms, 

and now I signed it so it is finished!

Punalu'u Black Sand Beach   8 x 10 inches  w.s. oil on prepared archival panel

 Mahalo nui loa for checking in. I know it has been sporadic,

 but I AM thinking about painting nearly all the time!

  

 

Punalu'u

Punalu'u is a black sand beach on the southeastern edge of the Big Island of Hawaii.

I set up my painting box in the shade of the coco palms in the mid afternoon. Tons of people were on the beach, most of them heading directly for the Green Sea Turtles Chelonia mydas basking on the beach in a little lava rock surround. A sign said to stay at least 25 feet away but some people were stepping over the rocks to get a better photo ...

Here are some in-progress shots. Matt is my official photographer. :)

Still have a teensy bit of tweaking to do on the painting, but not too much. Will hopefully post tomorrow, if not out painting, or SUP-ing, or snorkeling, or eating Laulau with poi.

Aloha!
 
 

View along the Kona Heritage Corridor

Ok, we are past the halfway point of our stay here on the Big Island.

I LOVE it!

 

This is Pitaya amarilla, or Yellow Dragon Fruit. 

It is delicious!

 

The other day, we drove up on the 10 mile narrow, winding, hillside (mauka) Heritage Road 

above Kailua.

Lush, green, cooler habitat than down on the beach.

Saw lots and lots of coffee plants.
 

We stopped at a place we could pull off and be safe.

The attraction for me to paint there was a little window of light 

shining on banana leaves 

and the ocean in the distance.

pencil sketch

kind of a mess, but this was my block-in that stayed this way for several days
 

 

Finally had the chance to work on it today. Pretty abstract, but I like it.

This painting is oil on a 6 x 6 inch prepared archival panel ... the only 6x6 panel that I brought.

Mahalo for looking in!

a hui hou (Hawaiian for "until we meet again")
 
 

 

Lei Flower

Plumeria

Pink Plumeria, oil on canvas, 2.5 x 2.5 inches (!)
 

I think most often you see the white with yellow Plumeria. I love the pink ones too.

This is a legit oil painting, not a digital one like the last. But I used that one to paint this.

The unexpected is sometimes the best.

Found this lovey spot to lunch and paint today.

  

 

 

Painted about an hour on this 8 x 10 study. It was absolutely gorgeous there 

in the Kohala district at Kapa'a Beach Park. 

I also very much loved the thick gray gesso with texture that I had prepped this birch panel with.

Matt, my easel and umbrella setter-upper, was very patient:

 

Aloha!

 

Pink Plumeria

Not as fragrant as the white one, but so pretty in pink!

 Totally cheating Artrage palette knife painting.

Thanks for looking in!

Kekaha Kai

After organizing & food shopping, Matt and I drove North to Kekaha Kai State Park, on the island of Hawaii. I set up my easel and did a small sketch and then painted a little 8 x 10 study.

Here is the sketch:

Painting under way:

I used a board that I gessoed with black! Perfect for lava! Ugh ... I forgot my good painting knife back at the condo. This is a silly plastic one I use sometimes for various things.

 It was very windy out there today, plus we were right smack under the flight path for the airport. So, not too peaceful - but it was beautiful and warm.
 

---

 

 

 

30 Paintings framed and ready ...

Ok, so this is not one of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days ... 

but it IS a pic on a fun app that you can use to draw stuff WITH your friends on either an iPhone or iPad (maybe other things too). 

It is from Draw Something by Zynga.

I love it! It is a way to stay in touch with family and friends, too.

... anyway, here are a couple of shots of the 30in30 work:

 

 

Photos of my studio table with all of the paintings finished ... and that means: 

waxing and buffing with Dorland's Wax Medium 

painting the frames my husband made

attaching little hangers to the back

making foam core backing (because these paintings were on Arches Oil Paper) 

and writing on them all. 

Whew! It took a couple of weeks working a little each day to get them finished. (There were 30 of the darn things, remember...)

I hope to have a show of these somewhere in Juneau someday, 

because I do think most of them turned out very nicely.

You may, if you look at the photo above, notice my cloth bag that says, 

eat. 

sleep. 

paint.

I got that for my birthday one year. 

I follow an artist named Carol Marine who had them available and it is perfect! You really should check out her blog, and her new painting book, Daily Painting. I have already pre-ordered her new book that is coming out, I think, on November 4. 

We will be heading to the Islands (Hawaii) on Friday, so will not be posting too much. But I will be bringing painting and drawing stuff and will try to post as much as I can.

Thanks for checking in and leaving comments or signing up for email posts.

Happy painting!

 

Winner of the Giveaway!

Thank you to all who entered the Giveaway.

Last night we put the names into my hat:

 

Matt drew the name.

Ta - Daaaa!

Steve is the winner 

of

this painting:

Homemade Kimchi

Congratulations Steve! 

Giveaway!

Do not forget to comment or email me about the giveaway! (see below)

This is a progress shot as I was standing in the sand - of my Beach@Thane painting that will be JANUARY in the 2015 Plein Rein calendar. 

The calendars will be for sale:

First Friday at Gallery 917 Glacier Ave, Nov. 7

 AND

they are on sale right now at

 JAHC downtown Juneau!

There are only about 200 left, so I would recommend getting them sooner rather than later!

How to do the GIVEAWAY -

Just send me an email (teri.robus@gmail.com) saying "giveaway" or leave a comment with the word "giveaway" in the comment section of this blog and your name will be in the hat to win one of my 30Paintingsin30Days original paintings, archival, protected, framed and ready to hang! 

Commenters or emailers, please be sure to leave me your information: NAME and EMAIL. That way if you win I can email and ask your address for sending the painting.

One entry per person please.

I will pick the name of the winner on October 20th.


Sign up to get my blog posts in your email. I promise not to write too much ... besides, you can unsubscribe at any time!

Thanks for checking in!

 

Two Weeks! ... and GIVEAWAY!

Two whole weeks have gone by since my last post. I have had some downtime and have been just sketching and not painting. 

But a few days ago I began another painting.

Eventually I will reveal the process and progress on it, but for now I would like to announce that my painting, Beach@Thane was chosen for the 2015 annual calendar always made by the Plein Rein Painters of Juneau, Alaska!

I am Miss January! or Ms January ... or something. Anyway, it is an honor to be in this most prestigious calendar and I am very happy.

Here is the initial thumbnail sketch for the 2015 January painting:

For those who follow this blog, or read this and send me their info (name and email), 

I am having a giveaway! 

Just send me an email (teri.robus@gmail.com) saying "giveaway" or leave a comment with the word "giveaway" in the comment section of this blog and your name will be in the hat to win one of my 30Paintingsin30Days original paintings, protected, framed and ready to hang! 

Commenters or emailers, please be sure to leave me your information: NAME and EMAIL. That way if you win I can email and ask your address for sending the painting.

One entry per person please.

I will pick the name of the winner on October 20th.

Thanks for checking in, thanks for entering the giveaway!

 and

Good Luck!

30 Paintings in 30 Days, September '14 Collage

The Paintings

 

 

 

 

 They look kinda cool in a collage like this, done with picmonkey.

There were 1053 artists signed up to do the Sept 2014 Challenge.

Wonder how many actually did all 30 paintings?

I am planning out which painting(s) to work on next, 

so see you back here in the next few days!

Oh! I also have a surprise for the followers of this blog, and will reveal it the next time I post.

Cheers and thanks for viewing my art!

30in30 - Day 30!

Stuff In My Refrigerator

 

 

I ran out of my Arches Oil Paper, so I am using something new. 

I recently asked for a sample (5x7) of a "mounting board" by Crescent. I really like it. I didn't gesso, just began painting ... well, after I sketched with white conte crayon (see above) and then set it with alcohol.

 

I remembered to take a progress photo (because I stopped for lunch)!

This is what it looked like before taking the tape off.

Stuff In My Refrigerator       5 x 7 inches        Ultra-Black Mounting Board

detail (my fav part is the milk carton, and the kimchi)

So, it was a really fun, crazy, interesting month. An painting education! Here are the things I think of immediately about this challenge:

 

1. I still do love to paint!

2. I am learning to trust myself regarding composition, values & colors.

(there are probably more things I learned, but I am kind of tired and want to get this posted)

Just remember to listen to the ArtistsHelpingArtists podcast this week because Leslie will be talking about this September 2014 30PaintingsIn30Days Challenge.

Thanks for hanging in there with me during the month.

Make sure to check back to see what is on my easel from time to time ... a leave me a comment so I know you were there!

30in30 - Day 29

Sourdoughs

 

I've had my White River sourdough starter over 20 years and it was >100 years old when I got it. 

It makes really delicious hotcakes and bread and rolls, etc. if I treat it right ... one time I did lose it, 

but fortunately I had given some to a friend who shared it back to me!

thumbnail sketch

 charcoal sketch

 alcohol wash

  background

Sourdough Hotcakes       6 x 8 inches       Oil on Arches Oil Paper

detail

We had sourdough hotcakes for breakfast yesterday, and these were leftovers.

 I had thought to also paint our delicious Red Currant jelly - so beautifully magenta-hued (dear friends made and shared with us), but essentially ran out of time and energy! 

 

I was planning something - not really avant garde - but different for me ... (it was going to be a little bit 3D with a tiny canvas mounted on top of this paper ...)

I will try it when I do have more time, and probably use real canvas or board rather than paper.

 

I wonder if Leslie would like some real sourdough someday ... perhaps she already has some. On her

 BLOG 

today she revealed she loves to entertain even more than she enjoys cooking. If you don't know, she holds her painting workshops in her home and one evening makes the class a homemade gourmet meal! She has lots of energy.

I am glad that I did have the energy to do a painting a day for September. Tomorrow is the last day. Guess I had better search the fridge.

Thanks for viewing my paintings!