Days 46 and 47

We started out Day 46 by visiting Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park. The park encompasses royal grounds and a place of refuge where ancient hawaiians could go to escape death if they had broken a Kapu (broken one of their laws).  This park is beautiful, peaceful and full of history. Definitely worth the visit.

photo of temple at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Again we saw turtles, this time in the shallow water.

photo of Hawaiian honu (turtle)

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Later, we returned to the snorkeling beach. While there I sketched part of a beautiful lei that my wonderful husband bought for me.

The lei was made from strips of palm fronds which were twisted together. Spaced equally around the lei were plumeria flowers. The best thing about this lei was that when the flowers wilted they could be removed and replaced with fresh ones.

The Hawaiian woman who made the lei told my husband that she learned the art of lei making from her grandmother and she was using materials from trees planted by her grandfather.

sketch of flower lei

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

The next day we moved from the island of Hawaii to the island of Maui. I did my sketch while waiting to board our plane in Hawaii. The Keahole Airport near Kona is my favorite airport. It's an open air airport. All the gates look like huts with thatched roofs. This palm tree was right in the middle of the gate area.

palm tree sketch

sepia pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

One of the things I noticed in Hawaii was all of the different types of palm trees. I wish I had been able to sketch more of them.

Ink Starfish Sketch

sepia brush pen in Cahier sketchbook

Stacy L. Rowan

Another sketch from my weekend at the shore. This time a starfish decoration found in the condo. I did this sketch with my sepia brush pen which I am liking more with every use.

Painting from Memory

My husband and I were at the shore two weekends ago. There was a storm off the coast that was producing a strong on-shore wind and a very rough sea. The waves were large and when they crashed they made sea foam the color of beer. Their power was impressive from the relative safety of the boardwalk.

watercolor sketch of ocean

approx. 5" x 8" in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

Stacy Rowan

The storm was making it too windy to paint outside. I was afraid the wind would rip my pages out of the sketchbook before I got any paint on them. But I still wanted to capture what I was seeing. So I watched the ocean trying to commit the unusual olive color, the crashing power and the foamy movement to memory. After we walked back to the condo, I pulled out my watercolor sketchbook, my compact set of half pans and two waterbrushes. Using these tools I did my best to recreate what I had seen.

This is the first time I have painted from memory and I was pleased with the result. (I know it looks like I have a curved horizon line, but I promise it is straight in the sketch.) It's definitely an exercise that I'll try again.

Did You Miss Me?

Hi all! You may have wondered where I wandered to since things have been so quiet here. Sorry about that. I took off with the family for a week at the shore and was without internet access. Not that it was much of a hardship. Who wants to be working on the computer when you can be lounging on the beach?? I love the beach. There is something reassuring and calming about the sound of the ocean and the feel of sand under your feet. Ahhhhhhh...

The weather was a mixed bag - everything from the perfect beach weather to cloudy, windy and cool. Not that it bothered us too much, since we found plenty of fun things to do. But the windy weather combined with a full moon did cause some troubles. Tides were higher than I have ever seen them and came right up to the sand dunes. As the water ate away the bottom part of the dune, the sand above it would come crashing down and be swept away by the waves. The high tides also caused flooding in the streets as the water backed up the drain pipes. The power of the ocean is pretty amazing. Here is a picture I took of the waves lapping at the dunes.

Now I am back home and settling back into normal life. Hopefully that normal life includes lots of art and regular blog posts. Although, you never can tell when the ocean will call me for a visit again.