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Last week I met one of my paint buddies, Bea Hunt, to paint on the Windward side of Oahu 'en plein air.  The weather was abslolutely gorgeous and it was therefor very difficult to find a place to set up shop as there were just too many choices.  It reminded me of my surfing days, when I would be on a surf hunt and drive around the entire island before finally finding a place to paddle out, with my excitement building every minute and almost turning negative.  So when I finally decided on this place, I was bursting with energy to get started! 

I am writing this because I was so frustrated that morning with everthing looking so overwhelmingly beautiful in the early morning light, that I just could not decide on a place to paint.  Meanwhile, as I'm busily driving around making many stops while searching, the sun is rising higher and the wonderful early light is quickly leaving, so my anxiety is building and making it even more difficlut to make a decision.  So finally I decided go to this spot I had painted once before many years ago on a totally different type of weather day, and to "just do it", like the Nike ad says.  And it worked! 

The light changes so quickly and those mountain "curtain-like" ridges are a challenge to capture with the muted distant values,  along with the forground color of the ocean and sandy beach.  Here goes, I set up my easel, canvas and paints, then I snapped a few photos for later use in my studio and dove into the painting.  After two hours it was time to quit since the clouds moved over the scene and the entire look changed.  So, we packed up and I headed home to my studio and worked the rest of the afternoon to finish up the painting with the photos I took to use as reference.

I have been wanting to paint the Koolau Mountain Range for awhile now, and the timing with the weather conditions have been frustratingly elusive for me.  But last week it all came together and I got myself out two days to paint on site which is my favorite way to paint.  Woooo HOOOOOO!!!  What a feeling!