When Joe and I go to Kauai, I often take morning walks along the Poipu coast with my camera. I love the plumeria trees—their graceful, lightly scented blooms. I’ll climb rock walls to get close to a flower that catches my eye. For this photo, I even climbed onto the roof of a utility building at a condo complex. Growing up climbing trees with my brothers made me part monkey!
I started this painting two years before finishing it. Other subjects called more loudly, and I set it aside. I brought it back to Kauai on a later trip. What first intrigued me was the background: the layered palms, the light, the soft shadows. The original flowers were bright pink, but something told me to shift the color.
So I went out on a “research walk” to see if white plumeria with similar rounded petals existed. They do! I took more photos and reworked the image, changing the color. Finding shadow colors that weren’t just toned-down pink was its own puzzle, but I’m so glad I did it. The soft, airy whites felt fresh and matched my mood.
Joe suggested I look up the Hawaiian word for “beautiful flower.” That led me to learn that melia means “plumeria.” It also happens to be my mom’s childhood nickname—spelled the same, pronounced differently. That sealed it.
Sunlit, fragrant flowers from paradise… just for you, Mama.
April 2013 – 22″x30″ – Watercolor on paper
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