Subtile Beauty ~ Grey Days on Hawaii

The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, 

bracing and delicious. 

And why shouldn't it be?

--it is the same the angels breathe. 

~ Mark Twain

A little watercolor painting I did on the beach at Laniakea ...

When the sun shines, color pops and we all "Ooh and aah" over the beauty. When the skies are grey the colors are more muted. It calls for us to slow down and see a more subtile beauty.

Some music for the visit ... 

Hawaii, as everyone knows, has a tropical climate so there is bound to be an ample amount of rain. It happened, though, that on my two trips in 2018 it was grey about 90% of the time. It was around the time that a lot of the flooding on the North Shore of Kauai and O'ahu were reported in the news.

When the sun came out I would run outside and take a zillion photos! That's why, after all the posts I've done, you might be surprised about the weather. Of course, it's Hawaii so it's always pretty temperate and very beautiful regardless of it being sunny or not! The colors are softer when the sun is obscured and everything has a more muted palette.

Well, hello green turtle!

 A gray day provides the best light.

~Leonardo da Vinci

The color of truth gray.

~Andre Gide 

A walk in the rain ...

The soft pastel color of sea shells ...

And signs of love in the sand

I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stain
The pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.
- P. B. Shelley

Hope you are finding beauty

wherever you are.

Blessings and light!

Ventura en Plein Air

for whatever we lose

(like a you or a me)

it's always our self

we find in the sea.

~e.e. cummings

Back in January my pastel group (Pastel Society of the Gold Coast) set up a date to do a "paint out" en plein air. It was at our member Sydney's house, and as you will see, it was a perfectly beautiful location!

After we all chit chatted for a while, the wind calmed down and the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. It was the perfect day to be outside with my pastel box! That is my Heilmann pastel box above on the tripod, and below ...

You can see the watercolor underpainting in the photo above, and my setup below, as well. Dont'cha just love those cool blues, greens and purples in the pastel box?

The world is mud-luscious

and puddle-wonderful.

~e.e. cummings

It was like a little art homecoming to be working in Ventura where I grew up, and down in the Ventura Keys, the neighborhood where some of my childhood friends lived.

Well, the piece did not get finished outdoors and still needs to be resolved in the studio (more work on the water and it needs some palm trees!) but it's always so great to be doing art outside in a beautiful place.

After meeting with my pastel group, I headed to the Ventura Pier for dinner and a margarita with my friend Tina, who I met in nursery school! After we ordered, I looked out the window and saw this guy! Isn't he beautiful?!

I love pelicans, especially after hearing in a documentary how sweet and loving they are! Some of the people who worked on Winged Migration, behind the scenes, said the "pelis" would literally come up to the people who raised them, and hug them by putting their wings around them! Makes me tear up to think of it!

I remember fishing on this pier as a kid.  One time, I was out there fishing and I cast out my line and a pelican flew right in front of me, grabbing my bate and the hook! It was awful and terrifying. We cut the line immediately and prayed he would be OK. I never fished off a pier again, and think of it every time I see someone fishing on a pier somewhere. 

Just look at this face! What a sweet beauty!

Once we believe in ourselves,

we can risk curiosity, 

wonder,

spontaneous delight,

or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

~e.e. cummings

I thanked him for be such a generous model and letting me take his picture, before he flew away. 

We had enormous fish tacos and then walked down onto the rocky beach. This was back in January after the storms. It was a gorgeous evening ... cool, crisp and breezy with the salty air of the Pacific.

trust your heart if the seas catch fire,

live by love though the stars walk backward.

~e.e. cummings

Tina and I on the beach!

I host a blog for the Pastel Society of the Gold Coast, and did a post about the plein air day on that blog, as well. A few photos are the same but there additional shots, including work by other artists if you want to check it out! Here is the link Pastel Society of the Gold Coast.

I thank you God

for this most amazing day,

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees,

and for the blue dream of sky

and for everything which is natural,

which is infinite,

which is 

yes.

~e.e. cummings

blessings and light

Avila Beach!

Avila Beach!

January 2015

After driving around the ranch the day before, (see previous two posts!) we enjoyed some great food and a lot of really nice wine. We had planned to go wine tasting the following day but after sampling all that really nice wine ... wine tasting didn't sound so good, all of the sudden.

New plan. We headed into town, to San Luis Obispo, for a big healthy salad and then a lovely view of the ocean! I'd never been to Avila Beach, and really wanted to see it, after hearing raves from my bosses, at the art studio. They go every summer, on their week off. 

It was a gorgeous January day, just after New Years and a great way to start the year off! Somehow,  I can always breathe better by the ocean. My heart and lungs open, and I have a sense of peace ... and freedom.

Here's some music for the journey ...

Freedom is the oxygen 

of the soul.

~Moshe Dayan

The freedom we are looking for 
is the freedom to be ourselves,
to express ourselves.
~Don Miguel Ruiz

The best freedom
is being yourself.
~Jim Morrison

All good things 

are wild and free.

~Henry David Thoreau

Freedom requires 

that you discover your own inner language

you own life rules-

your own vision.

~Zephyr Bloch Jorgensen 

My friend Tim. Thanks Tim!!!

For to be free

is not merely to cast off 

one's chains,

but to live in a way that respects and enhances

the freedom of others.

~Nelson Mandela

Letting go

gives us freedom, 

and freedom is the only condition for happiness.

If, in our heart, we still cling to anything -

anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Blessings and light, my friends!