Maui Moods

  
My husband and I have been going to Maui since the 1980’s. There was a long time out for over 15 years when I became sick. Since 2011, we have been able to return. There was a time when I thought I’d never see another beach or palm tree. I’m still too sick to do much when I get to Maui. But, I’ll tell you, it’s better being sick and laying on the lanai on Maui than laying on the bed in Seattle in the cold rain. 

I am fascinated by the tropical flowers I’ve seen on Maui. The flowers are lush and the colors are so bright. The flowers come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. 

I also love palm trees. Every time I see one, it takes me to Maui. 

I played around for quite awhile with several paintings where I put flowers on top of palm leaves. I spent a lot of time looking at photos I took in public gardens on Maui. Finally, I decided to abstract the flowers. 

I wanted to emphasize the color and shapes of the flowers I’ve seen over the years. That was more important to me than realistically representing the flowers. 

I did this on layers in Painter. I laid down a reddish color as the base of the painting. Maui has a very red dirt. It makes for great contrast with the lush tropical greens and colors of the flowers. 

Then, I did a layer of palm leaves. I made sure that both of these layers had sharp contrast between light and dark. 

Then, I just had fun and painted the flowers how I see them.