Growing up in Northern Michigan, I knew nothing about Hawaii, outside the stereotypical scenic sunsets and honeymoon destination dipicted in the media. I'd never even met someone from Hawaii until I met my partner Jeff, a Maui boy who'd gone to Oregon for collage, and just happen to be working a summer job in the same central Oregon resort town I was visiting for that summer. Long story short I made my first trip to Hawaii that winter to visit him and meet his family. And that is when I saw my very first Hibiscus.
Poor guy had to deal with me carrying around my camera like a tourist and stopping to take multiple angle shots of every different color flower I came across. Walking to the car at the airport, standing in line to enter pearl harbor, waiting at a crosswalk, tropical flowers where everywhere. After dealing with this for a couple days, Jeff took me to the Maui Plantation near his home, where I spent hours walking around the property taking pictures of every different flower and plant I came across. I had no idea of most of them were, I just knew I wanted to paint them, and I'd need as many photos as I could get.
Now that I live here, you'll still find me stopping whatever I'm doing, just to take a close up of a flower that catches my eye. No matter how many photos of that type of flower I may have, every individual flower is different. Each vein on the petal cascades out from it's center. The shape of the petal above cast a shadow on the petal below, creating a completely unique pattern. I could paint 100 Orange Hibiscus, but I'd never been doing the same painting. My favorite perk about living in Hawaii? Having the ability to go find my perfect reference, over and over and over again.
MsW
Poor guy had to deal with me carrying around my camera like a tourist and stopping to take multiple angle shots of every different color flower I came across. Walking to the car at the airport, standing in line to enter pearl harbor, waiting at a crosswalk, tropical flowers where everywhere. After dealing with this for a couple days, Jeff took me to the Maui Plantation near his home, where I spent hours walking around the property taking pictures of every different flower and plant I came across. I had no idea of most of them were, I just knew I wanted to paint them, and I'd need as many photos as I could get.
Now that I live here, you'll still find me stopping whatever I'm doing, just to take a close up of a flower that catches my eye. No matter how many photos of that type of flower I may have, every individual flower is different. Each vein on the petal cascades out from it's center. The shape of the petal above cast a shadow on the petal below, creating a completely unique pattern. I could paint 100 Orange Hibiscus, but I'd never been doing the same painting. My favorite perk about living in Hawaii? Having the ability to go find my perfect reference, over and over and over again.
MsW