Kauai Painting-Day 11

© Ellen Blonder
I couldn't sleep last night, thinking about how tight this painting was becoming. At 4 AM, I started chalking in overlapping foliage to the right and in the foreground.

Kauai Painting-Day 10

© Ellen Blonder

Now it's getting fun, adding details: shredded traveler tree leaves, small palm on left, vine crawling up the big palm, rough mountain details. There's still a lot to fill in.

Kauai Painting-Day 9

© Ellen Blonder

The traveler tree in the left background was interfering with the palm leaves, so I repainted them roughly, lower on the branches. I finished the trunk of the palm, and I'm starting to chalk in details for some of the other foliage. There's still a long way to go, but I feel like this is finally starting to take shape.

Kauai Painting-Day 8

© Ellen Blonder

Took a little time off to show a friend the island for the first time. It helped me see the beautiful flora here with a fresher eye.

Remembering Annabel

© Ellen Blonder

Remembering Annabel Low today, my aunt and co-writer. She would have been 60 today. On our book cover, that's her on the left and me on the right. I miss you, dear one.

Kauai Painting-Days 6 and 7

© Ellen Blonder

I've painted a traveler tree in the background and roughed in the bromeliad in the foreground, larger than before. Lots of issues to work out with the various greens.

Kauai Painting-Day 5

©Ellen Blonder

I'm roughing in the shape of the different areas of the painting. It looks way more open than I intend, but I'm trying to break my habit of painting in foreground stuff before working out backgrounds, and then having to paint in between details.

Kauai Painting-Day 4

© Ellen Blonder

Now that the palm leaves have a bit of light and shadow, I can calm down and move on to laying out other parts of the painting. I put a quick wash over the lower half of the painting just to get rid of the stark white, which was throwing me off. It still looks like the tree is poking out of clouds. I'm looking forward to anchoring it.

Kauai Painting-Days 2 and 3

© Ellen Blonder

This is getting off to a rocky start. After lightening the sky, I realized the main palm was too small. Now that I've enlarged it and roughed in the fronds, the traveler tree looks awkward and will probably go. And I'm still unsure if the palm is big enough. Somehow, it all looked easy to figure out on the thumbnail sketch, but once again, I'm humbled by how different--and difficult--it is working large.

Kauai Painting-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

After sketching and ruminating, I started putting paint on the 36 x 48-inch canvas. It looks terrible, of course, and will for some time. I'm eager to cover up all that white, however roughly, before I go back in and start refining. I've also forgotten how physically tiring it is to work so big.

Sketches for Kauai Painting-Day 3

© Ellen Blonder

I photographed Daphne, the cockatoo who's sort of a mascot at the Kong Lung center in Kilauea. She was actually chewing on a chain in the pose on the right. I may want to put her somewhere in the painting. Her white plumage would make a nice focal point against dark foliage and colorful flowers. Daphne played catch with me on a previous visit, but this time she was mostly intent on preening herself.

Sketches for Kauai Painting-Day 2

© Ellen Blonder

The big painting begs for big leaves, so I may put in a traveler tree--or at least part of one. These leaves are right outside the back bedroom windows.

Sketches for Kauai Painting-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

These leaves were part of a Sunshine Market bouquet here on Kauai. I've started sketching elements that might be incorporated in a big canvas I just bought.

Orchid-Final

© Ellen Blonder

Finished the orchid study today. Also spotted my first Humpback Whale for the season when I looked up from the drawing table.

Older Kauai Painting

© Ellen Blonder

Five years ago, I created this large painting for our dining area in Kauai. I never work this big (about 40 x 50 inches), and seldom this loose, so painting it was both fun and terrifying at the same time. Well, I just bought a 36 x 40-inch canvas for the opposite wall. Time to have more fun and be terrified all over again.

White Orchids-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

When I went to set up my drawing things in Kauai, I found a pencil sketch I had started in my watercolor pad a year ago. I wish I had taken notes on the color, but I seem to remember it was white, so that's how I painted it today.

Poinsettia-Final

© Ellen Blonder

I think I'm done. I don't want to overwork the pinks and lose their softness against the creamy edges of the bracts.

Poinsettia-Day 7

© Ellen Blonder

I'm starting to lay in more color on the bracts, and I've added details to the tiny central flowers. And for the new year, I hope to be posting more regularly again. Happy New Year, everyone!