Little Train in Paradise

Date: 4/29/2012

Location: Holualoa Residence

Size: 8' x 12'

Medium: Arcylic Mural

Artist's Comments: After the successful completion of the receiling mural I completed of the Kona Village resort, I was in for a treat when my little nephew asked me to paint his wall with Thomas the Train - his utmost favorite thing in the world!  When I asked what else he wanted me to paint his imagination went wild!  He wanted train tracks leading from his bedroom down to the ocean so Thomas the Train could live at his house; he wanted palm trees and waves and sand down by the shoreline.  For a little extravagance, he wanted the volcano errupting with lava flowing past the house downdown the mountain and he wanted to be painted surfing down the hot lava on his surfboard!  Well I liked everything up until the hot lava so, just in case my nephew has premenitions, I decided against painting an erupting Hualalai Mountain.  On this project, I had two of the best personal assistants ~ they were so helpful in mixing all the colors together and marking the wall with large splashes of color.  Good thing I let them go at it right away until they tired of the project and went to play outside.  Whew!  Now I just needed to cover those marks and I was ready to get moving on finishing the mural until they go reinterested in painting!

It was important to me to get the detail of Thomas the Train just right. I wanted my nephew to feel like Thomas was looking down at him while he lay in bed. Other details included rendering their house correctly; nestled into the side of Hualalai mountain. Clouds reached up and thru the ceiling with a warm smiling sun face shinning down over where my littelest nephew's bed sits.  At night, glow in the dark stars glitter in the sky.

To view other paintings in my collection, click on the section labeled "View all SitaScapes" located at the top right of my blog. I have categorized my paintings by the month as I complete them.

SitaAngelo is Born!

My mural project is complete!  Progress shots follow at the end of this post.

 Date: 04/08/2012

Location: Hualalai Resort Residence

Size: 12' x 15'

Medium: Ceiling Mural

Artist's Comments: When a SitaScapes collector purchased one of my "Have a favorite beach? I can paint it for you!" donations, she quickly contacted me and stated "I want you to paint my ceiling!".  I immediately answered "sure" and the rest was history.  Although the project was well beyond my current expertise, I was ready to jump in and make her dream become a reality. She missed the wonderful ambiance of the Kona Village Resort and wanted to recreate fond memories on her outdoor dining room ceiling.  I created a sketch, reviewed the color scheme with her and then got to work! There was planning to do, supplies to purchase and time to schedule in on the calendar to work on this project.

I began the project by sketching in the outline of the scene from the original sketch in hot pink. It was important to keep bits of the background paint color so that it blended well with the surrounding walls.  Painting with latex paints was very different and challenging at times. There were some positives such as the dry time was much quicker than oils and I could easily paint in glazes to achieve a nice variety of colors.  The challenges were mostly related to worrying about falling off the scaffold, replicating major color groups across the vastness of the "canvas" and keeping the paint from dripping off my brush before I could get it on the ceiling. A few unanticipated "surprises" were getting splashed with paint, unruly trade winds, and sore muscles!

Once I laid down the major groupings of color, I was able to get into the wonderful details requested by the owner.  Details you remember of time spent at Kona Village; calm waters filled with canoe paddlers, dolphins and whales, Maui in the distance, fierce tiki gods protecting the North and South ends of the Resort, a luxurious black sand beach, wonderful palm trees, lush landscaping, thatched roof bungalows, reflective fresh water ponds, tiny bridges connecting the various sandy pathways and so much more!  These details were the most fun for me to paint as they really provided life and brought fond memories into the project.

Once I finished the last details, took down the plastic drop cloths, touched up the edges of the ceiling and gave it a final nod of approval, I signed my name- the largest scale signature I have done so far in my career!  Whew!  That was exhausting but FUN and I hope my client loves her new ceiling! It's now official - SitaAngelo is born! Following are some progress shots of the project.



SitaAngelo: Getting ready to put down my first brush stroke!



SitaAngelo: Who would have thought something from Home Depot would be this fun!

SitaAngelo: Adding in the life of this project - the palm trees!

SitaAngelo: Le Artist at work!



SitaAngelo: Where did the hurricane trade winds come from and please can they stop!

SitaAngelo: Always nice to wrap up a large grouping of color. Feeling the burn!



SitaAngelo: Working on the scaffold has its dangers!  Luckily I didn't get too close to the edge.



SitaAngelo: Getting in the final details and touch up work.

SitaAngelo: Ala Ka'iNalu six-man outrigger with dolphins in the lead, breaching whale and Maui in the distance.

SitaAngelo: More details included tiki god, the wedding hale and camouflaged light and speaker fixtures.




SitaAngelo: Perfection!

To view other paintings in my collection, click on the section labeled "View all SitaScapes" located at the top right of my blog. I have categorized my paintings by the month as I complete them.