Clouds Roll By

This month's virtual paintout was on Prince Edward Island. A virtual stroll around the countryside brought me to this farm scene with heavy clouds overhead. It was an interesting challenge to capture the softness and the movement of the clouds with acrylic. I borrowed the laundry hanging on the line from a nearby house to add some needed bits of color to the neutral landscape. Note: this painting differs from my earlier posting here and on virtualpaintout.blogspot.com. A viewer to my blog (sorry, I didn't get your name) commented that the painting would be stronger if it was cropped. I took the suggestion to heart and it really did improve it. Thank you for the suggestion!

Hotel on the Hill

While walking (virtually) around Hong Kong, I came upon this intriguing white building. I'm not sure if it's a hotel, a hospital, or a private mansion. Painting it was a little like putting together a puzzle, with all its angles and layers.

Hong Kong Traffic

It's been tricky trying to find my way back to painting after a long absence. I've tried water soluble oils, acrylics and watercolors, and all have been a struggle. This painting of a Hong Kong street scene, for the Virtual Painters July challenge, was done in fluid acrylics and was an exciting process. I'm looking forward to more experimentation with this medium.

Cliffs from Kahekili Highway

A late afternoon cloud forms over a calm sea, as seen on a virtual drive on Kahekili Highway, Big Island.

Kilauea Hale

I painted this house on Kilauea Avenue, Honolulu, en plein air several years ago. It was fun to see it again via Google's Street Map (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&source=embed&layer=c&cbll=21.273507,-157.800901&panoid=1kjdgbMl4wb8QnyICfsXyg&cbp=12,42.12,,0,2.13&ll=21.273379,-157.81723&spn=0,0.219727&z=13). There's quite a bit more vegetation than there was before. Lots of ripe papayas!

Pike Place Poppy

After a trip to Pike Place Market in Seattle, my daughter and her boyfriend returned with a huge boquet of mixed flowers, lucky me! The fragile poppies quickly began to drop their petals. I captured this last one at the last second.

Paradise can be going home again...virtually

"Diamond Head Bougies" - watercolor

This was painted from a google map photo for inclusion on the virtualpaintout.blogspot.com web site. The painting experience felt oddly close to painting en plein air, right there on Diamond Head at the top of the road leading down to Diamond Head Beach Park, a favorite spot for local surfers. I could almost feel the sun and the tradewinds.