This is a small painting of the north shore of Kauai, from my recent trip there (here’s a sunset painting from the same trip). I love the Hawaiian sky!

Kauai – Oil on Linen – 8×10″

From a technique perspective, here are some things I can note:

1. I’ve kept this simple, just a few (<7) large shapes (see my post on abstraction);
2. There is an uneven distribution of values–one value should always dominate (in this case, the lighter sky), with others in unequal supporting roles;
3. The green foilage in the painting are very dark, as the sun is behind, yet I wanted them to read as green, and of course keep them loose. To accomplish that, I shifted the sky color less green and more towards violet (especially the low clouds) to set up a complementary color relationship (see my post on color separation)
4. I kept the paint loose, and achieved accurate values by painting with my glasses down for the first 90%. Those of you not near-signed, can squint, which has a similar effect, although impacts your perception of light, so not ideal. Near-sighted artists rule!
5. This was a very quick study, which also helped me be free with it. I try not to get “precious”, in fact, this painting was done over another older study. In order to learn, it’s important that I think of every painting as an exercise, to be wiped off right after. Sometimes (like this), the exercise works out and you have something worth keeping (and selling…buy now! 🙂