Saudade No 3 | Groundhogs Day Update

Initial POV

Did she order a glass of wine for her friend who hasn't arrived or did they go to the "loo" or step out for a smoke?

She is looking into the distance, has she spotted her companion or pondering some other aspect of their relationship,  or just wondering why they're late?

Unlike previous Saudade images, I wanted this painting to have a "Vermeer" effect, but more speculative than  "The Love Letter."

Final POV

Point-of-View (POV)  became pivotal.  Suggesting hope despite experience the goal. I opted in the final composition for something where the eye is lead up from the bottom left to the top right. To the right are a couple of earlier POV sketches that din't make the cut.

Adjusted Aspect Ratio

Closeup: sidewalk/foreground motif

My original sketch had an unusual aspect ratio which I had to sacrifice: no time to build and stretch a canvas 52" x 30".  But a standard canvas allowed the important suggestions my original drawing entailed, namely a cafe or sidewalk seating; the hint of chairs left and right skins the cat for me suggestively.

Worked on the textural layer today, have more to do tomorrow. I hope that by this coming Sunday I will be fairly through the oil layer.

It's in the oil layer that the shadows will be established and the texture colors integrated.  But before I get to that step I really needed to do something with the ground! In my drawing I had her table on a sidewalk that suggested a tiled motif: not something I could really do with textile, my favorite So I cut a mask and did a step and repeat for the first third of the foreground.

Moving into the upper two thirds, I am going to use pigment only to create the motif, a negative positive suggestion.

Managed to make some progress on her clothes. Tomorrow I should be able to work her figure a bit more closely.  The wine glasses too I have something special in mind; I'l share more over the weekend!

Closeup: clothing textures

Fruits of the Spirit

I have long been intrigued with depicting the nine "Fruits of the Spirit:" Love, Joy,  Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Forbearance.  Since various fruit have different shapes and color, the puzzle for me is association: which fruit best suggests love?

Should this still life  ( I imagine that is what is gained too by an avid practice of the nine virtues) be a single painting or a tryptic? Questions, questions! In the end I think nine individual paintings would be more interesting; still the association between virtue and fruit is quite daunting. Love as an example, is a fruit most have tasted yet difficult to describe.

For me Self-control was easy. I choose that as the starting point for this theme and the fruit I disliked the most: Eggplant. As a child, it took great self control to finish a helping of my mother's ratatouille!

I used the "Indian" eggplant as my subject, probably because I wish mom had used those in her recipe since they're smaller.  But seriously, I like the shape,  and the color and here's why.  Self-control is learned in small measures over time. Accomplishing that trait is an essence of Kindness and Goodness; in that


sense it has nobility, so purple seems appropriate.

To the right, the first of nine paintings in this collection. I am planning on painting eight of them on 16" x 20" canvases but Love will be a 20" x 24" just as soon as I can figure out what fruit and color best conveys the most important virtue of all.

N.B. Would love to hear your ideas, especially about Love. Feel free to email artist@studiokanunu.com or a direct message via Twitter @mynewcreations

Fairfax Art League | Village Gallery

Left Honolulu on 9 May 2016 for the Washington, DC metropolitan area for a number of reasons with Art for me being highest on the list.  More cultural activities of all sorts here in a week than a decade in the islands, largely due to government involvement. Municipalities and state governments here make exceptional efforts compared to their island counterparts, the Fairfax Art League is just one example.

Rather than have a vacant development in City of Fairfax' "Old Towne," the city council made an arrangement with the building owner for artists to use empty units for exhibits and studio space until a tenant could be found. The League has occupied the ground floor of 3550 University St for the past three years. I joined the league  in June and now have four pieces on display, and will be hosting a one man show  in September.

Bishop Street (home to Hawaii's greedy and entrenched unimaginative old boy network, whose family names are synonymous with the Hawaiian Monarchy's overthrow) would never let this happen in Honolulu. As for elected government, Honolulu Hale (City Hall) is nothing more than their proxies. That is why everything from arts, and quality of life in general are impoverished. Truly sad, though because there are things that can be learned from the "mainland," but the plantation mentality is very much alive; policies and practices that don't originate in the 50th state are rarely if ever implemented.

In any case, me and mine are quite happy to have found a place where we can all thrive at last.

Hapuna Point [Coming Storm]

Family and I took a trip to Kona (The Big Island, Hawaii) day after Christmas returning on New Year's Eve.

 I lived in Kona from 1989-1998. I remember when there was only one traffic light on the Queen Ka'ahumanu highway between Kailua-Kona and the "Rock Resorts." I remember before Kaeaholi Airpot became an international airport and the only private planes where Piper Cubs, and occasional Cessna not the 20 plus Gulf Streams that now hedge the tarmac. I remember Hapuna before the Prince Resort. It is still a special place for me; my favorite beach in the whole wide world. Great bodysurfing,  snorkeling, sunbathing and scenery.

This latest trip left me thinking I should capture an image before it is irrevocably lost like so many other points in time.

Ever been on a beach, waves breaking on the sand, murmuring all around, indistinct conversations spattered with occasionally audible phrases when suddenly all is silent, even the surf seems to have paused?

Seeking to capture a similar visual experience: gather clouds, bloated cumulus at saturation point, darkening sky; imminent rain suddenly gives way to cloudless highlights. Depicting this moment has seemed to me crucial in evoking sudden change.

Hapuna Point is a departure: textile layer is limited to ocean in selected areas and the lava flows in both the foreground and background. The oil layer builds the palette accenting green, red, purple, sand and flavors of beige (bottom right closeup)

Overall, I am satisfied with the results: as always comments are appreciated. Don't be shy!

Saudade No2

She is looking at something that has sparked a memory; a passing cloud, a stranger's face; or was it dreamed?

Saudade No2 takes a non-traditional point-of-view: face looking upwards  from the bird's eye with a background that suggests sunny and warm but nondescript. Her expression is touched with regret ( a handmaiden of yearning and desire); what has she seen? Was it another passer-by, a cloud, or light reflecting from a storefront window that sparked a remembrance of choices made that led to missed opportunity.

Palette is the same as Saudade No1, but the application of color is broader. In this painting I limited the sculpting to her dress, but my usual textural is evident in the figure and background.

Going to take the next week over Christmas to ponder Saudade No3 the last in my tribute to my late teacher. Feel free to comment or better still follow my blog!

Title: Suadade No2
Media: Acrylic, Interference, Oil, Textile on Canvas
Size: 30 x 20

Saudade No 1

Having spent more than three months on the Rift mural and  Emergence maquettes which are symbolic-abstractions, I felt a need to return to figurative imagery. The Portuguese word Suadade  [which in English roughly means an unrequited yearning for the unattainable] is my starting point for three paintings which I am dedicating to my late teacher and mentor George Harris.

George Harris was a member of the Royal Water Colour Society and an apprentice of Diego Rivera. As a young man, he worked with Rivera to paint the murals in Coit Tower in San Francisco. I learned the craft of figure painting from George; sure he would appreciate them!

Saudade No 1 is a classic "studio" pose with a lighting twist. While the palette predominantly sepia  and Van Dyke brown, the spot turquoise, rose madder and Venetian yellow carefully punctuate the mood. She is reflective: memories of things foregone, things that might have been, choices not made and made, modeled in her hair. A crown of heavy thought accented with interference pigments.



Title: Suadade No 1
Media: Acrylic, Interference, Oil, Textile on Canvas
Size: 30 x 24

Emergence No 2 (Maquette)

Continuing with this new process to  give further elevation to the textile layers in the artwork with Emergence No 2 maquette.  Red is the dominant color with the sahara yellow and gold injecting themselves (as with maquette No 1). Don't work with red hues very often; not my favorite color, but I managed to get cozy with Madder Lake.

I would like to interest someone I'm commissioning a larger version of this work, someone with a pressing need to fill a void on a partially protected (from direct sunlight) atrium wall, or better still an interior  at least 14 feet high that needs an 8 foot width decorated.  The final panel Emergence  No 3 would have predominantly greens, with the appearance of the yellows and golds yet  again. the three would then stack in order red, blue, green from top to bottom.

To the right, closeups give a greater view of the textiles offset from the canvas substrate.



Emergence No 2 (maquette)
12" x 24"
acrylic, oil, interference and textile on canvas