Gathering input is a huge part of making art

 On the first leg of my first mainland trip in ten years, I stopped overnight at an airport hotel near the San Francisco Bay in Burlingame. There is a nice little paved trail between the industrial area and hotels and the water. Before breakfast I took a wander along the trail and soon saw sea birds very busy a little way off shore. Most of the rest of the story I discovered after looking at my video to see what all the splashing was about! My best wildlife video of the year and I took it by mistake!

As mentioned in the title, being out in places is a huge part of making art. This probably doesn't need to go into a painting - the video says it all. I will definitely keep a respectful distance from seals...

Pukalani Back Door
Acrylic 12 x 16
Available at Gallery of Great Things in Waimea

The old green Parker Ranch gates used to be everywhere in Waimea. When I was young I learned to open and close them from horseback and got in trouble for swinging on them. Now most of them, including this one, have been replaced with modern materials. If any one knows where any are still in good repair, I'd love to receive a photo! Yes, those are night blooming cereus blooming in the bushes!

janewtaylor@icloud.com

 

Painting on location at Honokohau
Almost done...
email me for information
janewtaylor@icloud.com

 

Hapuna Moment

Brush Painting on Arches Watercolor paper

14 x 10 inches

$350

This painting is unframed and will need to be matted and framed.

A plein air brush painting on Arches watercolor paper, this captures a life-filled morning near a favorite tree. Surf pounds on familiar rocks below the steep hillside frequented by curious chickens and thriving Nene geese. I painted in watercolors before I moved to mostly canvas. This is acrylic used in a watercolor method.

 

Kohala Mountains Sunlit Moment
Acrylic on Gallery Wrap
18 x 24
Original available at Gallery of Great Things
 in Waimea on the Big Island of Hawaii

Giclee prints available at
janewordtaylor.com

I walk past this view several times a week. It is often hidden behind fog or clouds - the startling clarity of this moment caused an immediate rush home for canvas and paints. 

Having lived at the base of the Kohala Mountains for most of my 73 years, and explored them on foot and on horseback, as well as by flying over them more than once, I feel a deep connection to these rolling hills, sweet smelling pastures, and deep, mysterious rain forests. I was fortunate to grow up in a different era - nobody stopped me from walking or riding my horse in those hills or swimming in the streams. I now know my understanding was only of a transitory moment in the history of this amazing  and multi-layered place.  

Maiapilo Comes Back
Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped canvas
12 x 16 inches
$500 

See it on Jane's Website - prints also available

Acrylic on .5 inch gallery wrapped canvas, 12 x 16, this was painted en plein air at Old Airport in Kona, looking away from the ocean. The introduced fountain grass and Haole Koa dominate the landscape, along with a few Kiawe trees, and of course the much loved but also introduced beach heliotrope. The Maiapilo, which I photographed at the nearby national park in a similar habitat, has not yet returned to this area. Hence the picture is to some degree, wishful thinking, but it certainly could grow here. The birds are also introduced - the charming grey francolin were brought in along with practically everything else you see in this picture.

 

Kona Nightingale
Acrylic and ink on Arches Watercolor Paper
10 x 14
Original $350

Giclee available at
 https://www.janewordtaylor.com/carousel.php

 Painted en plein air at the Kona Historical Society. Such a lovely place to paint. I admit to adding the donkey from memory. He might have been ....the building behind him was formerly known as the "calf barn" so I assumed a donkey must have passed through...

November 2022 Eruption on Mauna Loa

seen from the Saddle Road

acrylic 4.5 x7.5

 It was a grand adventure - I drove through much wind and dust and then fog and rain obscured the lava. Once in a while a grand window would open in the clouds and there it was. I was just lucky to catch this view - I was driving away from it and pulled over at just the right moment!

Loved Kiawe Tree at Anaeho'omalu
Acrylic 12 x 16 on gallery wrap
$500
free shipping in the United States
janewtaylor@icloud.com
www.janewordtaylor.com/

When I first came to to this now popular and well-used beach, there was not a road to it. I came by boat and  enjoyed a private visit. Thick trees reached almost to the shore. Most of them are gone now. There were no buildings yet.  The famous fishponds were safely protected behind the roots of native Hau trees. A combination of development and the 2011 tsunami has entirely changed the area. This ancient Kiawe tree remembers.

 

 

Mo'opuna
Acrylic 12 x 16
Gallery Wrap
$500

https://www.janewordtaylor.com/

Once in a while, when I am painting on location, a place opens up and shares a tiny bit of its story. I went to the Old Airport park 3 times to finish this painting. The first time was all about the clouds, the ocean, and the distant Mauna Loa. That first painting day, back in May, was the only time when Mauna Loa was clear and crisply visible. The second time was mostly about the tide pools. I had an interesting conversation with these two girls who were sitting in the water. One of them turned out to have a family historically involved with fishpond preservation, and I enjoyed talking to them immensely, so I put them in the painting. 

The third time I went, I was really unsure what the painting needed. I just knew it wasn’t finished and hoped something would come to me. I set up my easel and had not even started putting out the paint when it happened! I was approached by a lovely gentleman who  had seen the painting and said he wanted to show me something his great great grandfather (there might have been more greats) had passed down to his family. I followed him South about a hundred feet from my location and he pointed and said “can you see the faces?” I could see nothing that far away - my eyes aren’t that sharp. I took out my phone and asked if I could take a zoomed in picture, and he could show me. He was fine with that and there they were. I could not believe I’d been standing there painting those rocks for 3 separate times and not noticed. I do love discovering things like this. I told him about the faces I’ve seen in North Kohala on the cliffs, and he said he didn’t know their stories, but he did have a story for these:

He told me his great great grandfather shared with his family that this was “Auntie Pele and her mo’opuna, looking back towards Hualalai, Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Since that rock is sometimes popularly called “shark rock” I asked about that and he said, no that is just a modern thing.

I am naming the painting “Mo’opuna” which means grandchildren. I am deeply grateful for moments of connection like these, and that he was willing to share.

The Oldest Kona Store
Acrylic 12 x 16 on gallery wrapped canvas, ready to hang
Private collection

 I always love painting in South Kona. The steep hillsides provide wonderful contrasts of the lush countryside against the distant ocean and sky. Flowers abound and on this day, the fragrance of roasting coffee filled the air.

Maintained by the Kona Historical Society, the old Greenwell store is the oldest surviving store in Kona. Please check their website for historical information. 

https://konahistorical.org/hn-greenwell-store-museum

 

Kahalu'u Storm Gathers
Acrylic 12 x 16 on gallery wrap
Sold

This delicate bay provides a dynamic interface between ancient and modern, human and natural, lava and coral, calm and surf.  Offering a best first experience for snorkelers, it has become ground zero for both exciting education on the intricacies of the near-shore ecosystem, and difficult over-use.  In this painting tumbled bits of an old breakwater join pristine lava formations and sand to create the current shore-scape in this historic location.

 

Back Door at Anna's Ranch
Acrylic 8 x 10 on gallery wrapped canvas

giclee prints available on
 https://www.janewordtaylor.com/carousel.php

Painting at Anna's Ranch with a plein air group and had memories from 50 years ago at "Old Hawaii on Horseback", a show put on in her front yard by Anna Perry-Fiske for many years. so here is Anna's Ranch about 50 years apart. That is me on the white horse.
Opposite points of view, but we went in under the canopy in the painting when Anna wanted to check our costumes. She didn't like how I had my hat and made me re-position it.
As usual it took awhile to finish the painting. I had fun putting in all the flowers there are now.

 

Save Keauhou   
Acrylic 12 x 16 on archival linen
$650

janewtaylor@icloud.com

 

Memory of a Sheltering Tree at Ke Ala Kahawai O Waimea
Acrylic 12 x 16 on Gallery Wrapped Canvas
$500

 This favorite place will one day bloom again - it is having a low point just now and I stood there by the dry stream and dead tree and painted a memory. I'm honored that my painting was chosen to be on the 2024 tee-shirt for Waimea Trails and Greenways. (which seems to have fallen through, but fun anyway) Loved seeing so many old and new friends along the trail while painting! So grateful to the friends that helped me lug my gear to this out of the way spot and modeled for the dog walkers! (Lori and Ralph!) The figures at the stream crossing represent myself and my grandson. We have spent many happy times floating leaf boats there.

Sadly the property owner outside the stream-side trail easement saw fit to bulldoze the trees, knocking them into a mess almost in the stream itself, and the place is a sad remnant for the moment. I'm sure it will someday be restored but for the moment this is all I could do.

Stream-side June 2023

Kaloko Palms
Acrylic on Gessobord
16 x 12
$500
free shipping in the United States

This location is reached on an unpaved mostly rock road that winds through the lava fields from the highway to the Kona shoreline. The fishponds are extensive and beautiful, so in this painting the ocean does not actually show, but it is just to the left of the picture. My little car just barely makes it in over the lava, and then I am in a world of sunlight, ocean, shorebirds, and palm trees. It is one of my very favorite places to paint.

 

Honoli'i Behind the lifeguard Shack
10.25 x 14.25
Acrylic on watercolor paper
$300

If you climb down the winding staircase to the Honoli'i Beach Park, your first inclination (unless you are a surfer)  is to wander to the river and look up at the highway bridge far above.  However, there are other secret spots - this is behind the lifeguard shack looking towards Hilo.

Link to Jane Taylor's New Website 

I am pleased to offer a new website that includes purchase options and even a few prints. (I mostly do not offer reproductions, but the three below are available on the website in various print-on-demand sizes.) Click on the link above to explore the site. I will be adding more pictures on a regular basis. 

Low Tide at Honaunau  
Acrylic 12 x 16 on ready-to-hang
Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Available $440
Please e-mail janewtaylor@icloud.com to arrange

Although I've been many times to the National Park at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau, this time was different. The tide was lower than I've ever caught it there and I was able to walk way out on the lava flow outside of the great wall, a space that has for me only been waves and foam before. The ocean was breathing in and out of the tide pools and the Kolea (Pacific Golden Plover) and ʻAkekeke (Ruddy Turnstone) had flown in to enjoy the feast. I lingered on the rocks for a long time, drawing and pondering the aliveness, before retreating to the shade to paint. The massiveness of the shoreline came home to me in a way it has not before. To arrive there seeking refuge must have been daunting! Now it is peaceful and lovely, a place of serenity for the moment. The link below explains the cultural aspects better than I could. 

https://www.nps.gov/puho/learn/historyculture/puuhonua-o-honaunau.htm

 

The Day Clears at Wawaloli
Acrylic on linen board 11 x 14
$300
email janewtaylor@icloud.com

 

As I was driving from  Waimea to paint at the beach near the Natural Energy Lab in Kona, Hualalai took on mythic proportions  against the voggy morning sky. I parked and braved whizzing trucks to photograph the mountain I knew would soon vanish. 

Sure enough, by the time I was set up to paint "plein air" at the beach, there were only clouds.  The place is quite real but I admit to having removed rather a lot of cars and people! 

Spring Coffee
Acrylic on Arches Watercolor Paper
10 x 14

Sold

This painting was begun on location at a lovely organic coffee farm in South Kona. The day was warm and balmy and the coffee blossoms were fragrant and full of happy bees. I added the donkey. You will have to zoom way in to find him. The coastline is fairly accurate - this is based on a real place, but I moved some rocks and trees and bushes around...

 

Hale Kūola   Acrylic on linen 11x14

 (Kūola means Alive and safe, as after escaping from danger)

 There were a lot of un-homed people living here. In the past they were all crowded around the public bathroom and the atmosphere then was sad and hostile. Visitors were uncomfortable and the campers were clearly unhappy. Then this last time when I visited this beach that I remember from my childhood, they had moved all their tents across the road and under the tree with shade and a nice ocean spot. The same people were friendly and open.  They were not in any way inhibiting visitor use of the beach. 30 feet made all the difference. I hope they are allowed to stay, and that we might learn something as a society. I am sure the problems associated with homelessness did not go away, but I am equally sure that they became less awful for both visitors to the beach and those who had no where else to go. Just a thought.

The painting is available. $320. email janewtaylor@icloud.com

Winter Surf in North Kohala
Acrylic 12 x 16 on archival linen board
Available $500
Please email janewtaylor@icloud.com