Across the Bay

Oil on canvas panel, 9" x 12"
$475 plus $9 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

A larger painting today, not a daily. Another one that, with a little squinting, could almost be the rugged Oregon coast.

Smaller paintings will be less frequent for some time, as I am focusing on larger works and commissions, as well as working on the stone series (I said "stone," not "stoned") that I have blogged about in the past. I'll post these new works when they seem complete.

Plants and Plumage

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


At a wayside where we stopped for lunch, another wild Maui rooster strutted confidently out of the jungle. I liked how the leaves echoed the shape and flare of his feathers.

North to Alaska

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

From bluffs near Honolua Bay, looking north across the vast ocean. It was mind-boggling to think that the nearest land in this direction would probably be the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, maybe 2500 miles away.

Windward Shore

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


This young coconut palm bends to the coastal breezes along the north shore.

Sundown, Northern Bluffs

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

From up on the rugged northern tip of Maui, looking toward the cloud-shrouded island of Molokai. If I squinted a bit, it reminded me of the Oregon coast.

Birds of Paradise

Oil on board, 6" x 6"

$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.

Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase

It was fun to revisit many of the tropical plants we hadn't seen since we left southern California. I have always loved the apt name and exotic character of these flowers.

Keanae Village Church
Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

This humble but lovely stone church was built in 1856. It was the only building left standing in Keanae Village after a tsunami swept over the peninsula in 1946.

Trade Winds

Pastel on Wallis paper, 7" x 12 1/2"
$175 plus $7 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


This is a pastel drawing, done on a sheet of Wallis sanded paper. A friend sent the paper to me some months ago to try (thanks, Katherine) and recently I found it in my flat files. I haven't done any pastel work in years, but it was fun to dust off the boxes of Rembrandt and Nupastel sticks to depict this Maui cottage.

Keanae Shore
Oil on canvas panel, 6" x 8"
$150 plus $7 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

A little sidetrip off the Hana highway takes you out on the Keanae peninsula to this breathtaking shoreline, where the jagged black lava rocks are being slowly rounded off by the thundering surf.

Wild Rooster

Oil on board, 8" x 8"
$190 plus $8 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


There are wild chickens all over Maui. On a walk through the tropical forest these colorful birds seemed to suddenly materialize everywhere, darting from dense grasses and scurrying behind huge philodendron leaves. It seemed strange to hear their down on the farm clucking and crowing in such an exotic environment.

On another note: I'm proud to be a member of "Daily Paintworks," a group of twelve very capable artists. Susan Abbott, a wonderful painter from Vermont, recently joined our ranks. Check out her beautiful oils and watercolors at http://www.susanabbott.blogspot.com/. And take a look at the rest of the Daily Paintworks bunch at http://www.dailypaintworks.com/.

Eggplant and Pear

Oil on board, 7 3/4" x 10 1/4"
$225 plus $8 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


I taught an oil painting workshop over the weekend, and did this still life as a demo. It was painted using a primary palette of cadmium red, cadmium yellow and ultramarine blue, plus white. Click the image for a larger view.

Island Streambed

Oil on board, 8" x 7 1/2"

$190 plus $8 shipping in U.S.

SOLD


Along Maui's north and northeastern shore is the "Road to Hana," a twisting, narrow little track through dense and spectacular tropical rain forest. The pavement often funnels down to one-way traffic, especially when crossing little concrete bridges that span the innumerable narrow, steep-sided canyons.

The road was completed in 1926, and many of the bridges look to be original equipment. They are quaint and charming to see, with their weathered, rain-streaked surfaces. My son Jared and I clambered below one to discover this gorgeous little stream trickling around moss-covered rocks. When our attention turned to the bridge we saw tons of loose-stacked rock atop a visibly sagging span of rotting concrete, maybe 6 inches thick.

There are some things you'd just rather not know.

Maui Bungalow

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


Tucked away in small settlements away from the coastal resorts are small cottages where many of the locals live. Though often very humble, these unassuming homes settle into the landscape with a sense of belonging that eludes the towering hotels.

From Lanai to Lanai

Oil on board, 6" x 6"

$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.

Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase

All you ol' Hawaiians know that a porch or patio is called a "lanai" in the islands. This was the view from our 5th floor lanai in West Maui, looking across to the island of Lanai. We were high enough up to easily spot lots of Humpback whales. Sometimes they breached clear out of the water--an awesome sight.

Evening, Kahana Beach

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


Remember those "friends" who invited you to dinner at their place and, after dessert, set up the projector and bored you with hours of slides of their last vacation? I may be their painterly equivalent for awhile with these paintings of Maui...I just can't help myself!

At least you don't have to look for the opportunity to make a polite exit; you can just close the browser window and I'll never know.

Toward Molokai

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

We're back--all sunburned and exhausted--from our mini-vacation to Maui. It was a great time--what a beautiful, magical place!

The visit was made even more memorable than we could have imagined when the phone rang in the wee hours Saturday morning. It was a good friend in North Carolina, who told us that a tsunami alert had been issued for the islands, in the wake of the Chile earthquake. Our condo was literally steps from the water, so we rousted everyone up and got ready to evacuate. At 6 AM the alert sirens went off--a chilling sound that reminded me of World War II air raids. By that time we were already on higher ground--a private golf course overlooking the island of Molokai.

Several hundred found their way to this spot--a mix of locals and vacationers. We parked our cars in the shade of some small trees, tuned our radios to local stations, and watched and waited. Our daughter and her fiancee were there too, along with a goodly number of the wedding party, watching their carefully laid plans for the afternoon's beachside wedding melt away. It was a surreal experience, strangely boring and exciting at the same time, as we ticked the hours off scrutinizing the coastline for any sign of change.

Thankfully, it was a non-event. The waves came through, virtually imperceptible to us. I don't believe there were any reports of damage. Around two in the afternoon the all-clear was given. We resumed our tourist lives; the wedding was re-scheduled for Sunday and went off without a hitch...life went on.

I took hundreds of photos, some of which are begging to be interpreted in paint. I saw these beautiful flowers while roaming around near the golf course on tsunami day.