I just love plumeria. They’re my absolute favorite tropical flower—the way their petals spiral inward, their pristine grace, their elegant simplicity. And then there’s their scent: fresh, clean, heavenly. Even though I already have hundreds of photos, I always take more when we visit Kauai, returning to favorite trees and gathering new images to paint. This is the fifth plumeria I’ve painted.
I took the photo for this one in May 2016, near the parking lot at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens on Kauai’s south side. The sun had just come out after a heavy rain—exactly the conditions that gave me the photo for Imagine, my big water lily painting. Raindrops in morning sun are magic.
No single photo was perfect, so I pieced together parts of a few to create the final composition. I painted it on one of the leftover 20″x40″ pieces of paper from making 40″ squares—a great size for travel, as it rolls up easily for a plane ride.
I started painting it in Kauai that February, disciplining myself to complete the leaves and background first. Once home, I let myself dive into the rainbow-hued petals. The water droplets were tricky—some layered over each other in wild patterns of blue, violet, and white. I had to trust what I saw in the image.
The finished piece feels like light and water dancing over the flowers—just what I felt in that moment. Its name came later: Ho‘omana, Hawaiian for worship, praise, and spiritual empowerment. A big name for flowers, maybe—but spirit is in everything.
February – March 2017 – 20″x40″ – Watercolor on paper
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