Sunday, November 10, 2024

Walking at Paniau
Acrylic on  Gallery Wrapped Canvas 
12 x 16

$440


 At the end of the road at Puako is a shoreline access area. The ocean is directly behind us as we look back towards the road. When I was a small child in the early 1950s, a house very near this spot belonged to friends and I remember spending the night with them and seeing the tide-pools for the very first time, glowing in the early morning light. Someday perhaps I will paint that recollection!   Also in those days there was no television reception in Waimea, but you could watch TV down in Puako, so that memory emerges in this spot as well. Note the Hawaiian quilts hanging to dry in the background. The houses have all changed since those days, so there is no real accuracy here, but I do remember amazing quilts.

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Wave at Kohanaiki
12 x 16
$440



 I began this painting on location sometime over the last year but cataracts intervened and it has been languishing unfinished. It now rises to the surface to be touched up and completed. 

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Old Airport Garden
Acrylic on watercolor paper adhered to hardboard
9 x 12
$175

I enjoyed painting this on location and meeting some of the hard working people that make these beautiful gardens. The place is bursting with life, so look for the dog and his person, the cat, and the mongoose. I have mixed feelings about all the animals here  - much as I love each of them, there are practical reasons not to feed cats in our environment - they eat a remarkable number of birds even when they are fed, and they carry diseases to some of our native animals. 

I enjoyed learning about the Golden Arrow Plumeria. What an interesting variety!

janewtaylor@icloud.com
 
 

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Paniau Trail
Acrylic 8 x 10 on gallery wrapped canvas
$250

 Begun en plein air and then finished at home.  A steady stream of dog walkers and people seeking shade or snorkeling sites frequent this trail. The  near tree is a Beach Heliotrope.

Monday, October 21, 2024

A'eo at Kalokoa Fishpond
acrylic on Aquabord
12 x 16
$440


One of several paintings begun on location  prior to cataract surgery and finished months later in the studio after several more visits to this favorite spot, this is another "transitional" painting.  I find painting with my changed vision both exciting and challenging and am not yet sure where it is leading.
 

Intricate Lava
acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas
12 x 16

$440


 One of several paintings begun "en plein air" on location prior to cataract surgery which was finished months later. This spot is on the Kona coat looking South towards Mauna Loa.

Waimea Horses
Acrylic 12 x 16
Gallery Wrapped Canvas

$440

 This painting was begun "en plein air" or on location near the war memorial in Waimea. The horses frequently can be found sheltering under the eucalyptus trees at this spot. I began the painting shortly before much needed cataract surgery curtailed my painting activity.  Finished three months later, this is one of several transitional paintings that straddle what was a significant event in the life of an artist. 


Tuesday, September 17, 2024

"When the Sand Goes Out"
Acrylic 8x10 Gallery Wrap
Available $250

 When I was a child we called La'aloa beach "White Sands". The sand moves off shore regularly with the storms of winter and fills back in during calm weather. I did my first swimming in big waves here, at considerably greater risk than my family had any idea. Sometimes called "Disappearing Sands" or "Magic Sands", this is a popular and crowded beach these days, but the pattern of the waves remains familiar! 

This is the second picture finished since the cataract surgery completely changed (for the better) my field of vision. Overwhelmed with newly visible detail, I struggle to redefine what I want to include!

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

High Tide at Kahalu'u
Acrylic 8 x 10 on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

sold


Each painting is both a celebration of a unique spot and a moment, day, week or several weeks of my own personal story as well. This is the first new painting started en plein air after my long awaited cataract surgery. I am loving the renewed detail and color in the world and finding them a bit overwhelming when I paint!

Saturday, May 18, 2024

Hoku'ula from Pa 'Eli Alanui 
Acrylic, 12 x 16 on Gallery Wrap
email the artist janewtaylor@icloud.com


Notes about this painting: It was begun on location and this is a real place. Cows are seen more often there, but I was in the mood for horses, which can also be found in the neighborhood. A favorite walk, this lovely spot invariably makes me happy. However second thoughts must dig deeper:

Every single plant in this view plane represents an introduced species. There are no indigenous plants in this location.

The plants in this picture are: Kikuyu grass, Cook Pines, Desmodium,  Bauhinia, and Wild Olive.


Kikuyu Grass - introduced from Kenya in 1925, this is a major pasture grass in Hawaii. It is probably the main pasture grass in both the green lush paddock and the distant dryer hills in this painting. When I was a child I heard the Parker Ranch cowboys discussing its spread. They liked it as pasture grass and related different places it had spread to.


Cook Pines were probably introduced from New  Caledonia by Captain James Cook. We used to call them  "Norfolk island Pines" and there is some confusion. 

The trees on the distant Hokuula hill were planted in the shape of a P to represent Parker Ranch.  Fortunately in my mind, the shape has deteriorated.  Those were pine trees.

Desmodium (lower left) is a legume introduced for pasture forage. It gets everywhere! There are several types. Desmodium intortum, also known as greenleaf ticktrefoil, was first reported in Hawaii in 1916.  Desmodium intortum is a naturalized cattle forage crop from tropical America. Locally it is often called "clover".

The flowers are Bauhinia. This plant is from Madagascar and  was introduced to Hawaii in the late 1800s or early 1900s, with Joseph Rock and Dr. Lyon of the University of Hawaii distributing seeds. Hawaii has 13 species of introduced Bauhinias. 

Wild Olive is the precursor to commercial olives. From Africa, it  was planted as a windbreak and ornamental ,and has spread widely since the 1950s as birds enjoy the seeds. There is not as much information available about this wide-spread tree as one might expect.