Marcia's Blog

I changed the name of the painting to 'Anini at Dawn' which implies the scene is earlier than 'morning."

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My daughter took some wonderful photos at sunrise in the Anini area. I am painting another in watercolor.  The clouds will be a challenge in this one. The reference photo is below followed by the first layer of paint on the land areas.

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This was a fun painting to do.  I finished the ocean, eliminated the moon (but kept the sun) and added more color to the sky and land mass. The original watercolor is 16x20" and will be with me at the Koloa Plantation Days craft fair in Koloa on July 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. I will have small prints there as well.

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I started the ripples on the ocean and will be adding sky colors next. The land masses and clouds had another layer of color. The lighthouse is not in yet.

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I added another layer to the sky and put in a first layer of the land mass. The lighthouse will go in after the point is darker. The first layers of the ocean are next. I see this as the greatest challenge in this painting.

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My daughter loves taking sunset and sunrise photos. My reference for this painting is one she took while in Anini on this island,Kauai.  It will have the profile of the historic Kilauea Lighthouse in the distance as well as the little island in front of the lookout. 

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I added more sky blue and cleaned up the edges of the building and am ready to call this painting of Hanalei's historic church finished! Buildings are certainly different than painting flowers or landscapes where details can be looser.

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I feel I need to work on getting the sky versus clouds more defined and except for a few more areas that need to go darker on the building, this painting is nearly completed.

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Working on the finer details. I added a hint of the stained glass windows as seen thru the doorway.  Coconut tree tops and the front of the church are next.

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I will paint the church's shadow on the lawn once I finish up the details of the front steps and front windows.  The coconut and palm trees are not finished either. 

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Those windows will be the tricky part! I have masking fluid over the trees on the side of the building so will need to finish the stained glass effect before removing the mask.

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Excited to do my first building and happy to get back to light and bright vegetation. I took a photo of the "historic Christian church in American gothic style" while standing under a tree in Hanalei. We also just call it the "green church."  I had to go out again to analyze that green color which has some blue in it. Started with the branch overhead.

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I ended up cropping the 22x30" watercolor, 'Kauka Wilder Plumerias,' to 14x18." This definitely improves the composition and makes it less about the leaves.

 

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This is the second plumeria watercolor that I had started. Composition is similar but background colors are different. Leaf colors will not be a realistic green either.  Having fun with it.  

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I went back to the recently abandoned plumeria painting and it morphed into flowers in a vase.  I am actually pleased with the outcome. Calling this 'Plumerias in a Vase.'

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I am starting the plumeria painting a second time.  18x24" versus 22x30."  The center plumeria will be lower rather than having all flowers in a straight line.  The last time I began with the background which took center stage.  This time, I will do the flowers first. I do intend to have a loose background though not so dark. (I may crop the first one to save most of that painting.)

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Enjoying this experience still in progress.

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Moving along slowly. At this point, I won't say what my plan is since I am developing it as I go. There will be hard and blurred edges that much I know. This is a lot of fun!

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This one will be an experiment in looseness. Of course, I say that often and end up with something entirely different.  Let's see where this goes. Sometimes I crop a painting at the end or it might end up in the "revisit later" bin. Am using a full sheet which measures 22x30" and the painting is in portrait orientation. (I usually paint horizontally so that I have paintings for the annual calendar.) I believe that the variety of plumeria is Kauka Wilder.

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