Description
When Joe and I go to Kauai I often take morning walks down along the coast of Poipu with my camera. I have a particular love for the plumeria trees and their gorgeous, lightly perfumed flowers. I climb on rock walls to get up close to take a picture of a spot that has grabbed my eye. To take the photo that this painted from, I actually got up on the roof of the utility building of a condo complex. Climbing trees with my brothers growing up has made me part monkey! I started painting this piece two years ago. Other subjects called more loudly and I abandoned it. I took it along on a trip to Kauai in case the mood struck – and it did. I was drawn to this image largely because of the background – it was a challenge to paint the palms and the light and the diffused colors in the shadows. The original flowers are pink-pink but I was hesitant to paint them as they were. One morning I took a research-walk to survey the varieties of plumeria to see if there were white (or mostly-white) plumeria that had a similar rounded petal shape. There are! So I took some photos to give myself something to work from and I set about changing the color. It was something to find the colors of the shadows apart from the pink of the petal. I’m happy with how it came out – and really happy that made them mostly white flowers. They have a fresh airy-ness that suited my mood. Joe suggested I look up what “beautiful flower” is in Hawaiian. When I learned that the word for “plumeria” is “melia” I knew it was the name. Spelled the same, but pronounced differently, Melia is my mom’s childhood nickname. Sunlit, fragrant flowers from paradise for you, Mama!
April 2013
