Journeying Through Technicolor Tunnels

Ah, feeling my way through this experimentation. What a surprisingly unexpected dive into color and play beneath the summer sunshine and the majesty of Makana Mountain.

And so the journey begins- dragging along enough materials to fill a small u-haul.

I carry a stack of about ninety-five paint brushes and one hundred paint tubes that weigh roughly 250 lbs to carry to my location. I wish I could tell you I arrive like an unbothered little art fairy, but I tend to arrive to location heaving and disheveled. I usually begin my sessions with a dunk in the ocean and a huge sigh of relief that I even made it. Big pats on the back, then go.

Oil painting is a very much un-minimal sport. Maximal on all levels. My easel, however, is amazingly minimal. I invested in an incredible Plein Air easel, touted as the best in the world. It's engineered essentially like a NASA level piece of tiny machinery. This baby can withstand rain, sun, sand, weather catastrophes- including, but not limited to: high gust winds, possible tsunami warning-esque conditions, dramatic jungle down-pours, and my passionate heavy-handed brush strokes.

Now that I'm cooled off and my hair is soaking with salt water, it's time to get going.

Step one: set up mobile mini studio- where the magic happens.

Step two: align my paints by warm and cool, transparent and opaque, to the sides of my pallet.

And step three: the juicy part- to paint.

And oh to begin with magenta! What a cheerful color against the verdant green Hā'ena mountains of Kaua'i. Every time I start with a magenta under-painting, it lights up my heart and brings warmth and sweet playfulness to the world around me. Beginning with soft washes to sketch in the main shapes of the mountains and ocean while mesmerized by the vibrant colors of the day.

Then to the opaque layers. I felt energized and I couldn't help but notice the color of the landscape was practically about to burst into a super-nova. And so I chose all my most radiant color- quite literally the 'Radiant' line by Gamblin- and painted madly away, from my heart. From the energy of the space, the feeling in my chest in this special place, this little cosmic vortex of a beach.

Sometimes I feel like an astronaut flying off into painting space, a place where my mind buzzes with creative chemicals and astral moments of painting insight. Or like a mad scientist swirling her experiments to perfection, only mine involves beloved paint tubes, a canvas, and a whole lot of sand.

Technicolor Tunnels

11" x 15" oil on canvas