2012 - Koolau - Olomana I

I spent Sunday taking great delight in creating watercolor paintings of Mount Olomana located on the Windward side of Oahu, near my home in Kaneohe.

I learned from the Wikipedia article that the word "Olomana" means "divided hill" in Hawaiian. There are also names to all three peaks of the mountain. The first is called also called Olomana, the second is Paku'i,  and the third is Ahiki.

There is no end to the information on Wikipedia.  Or to my ongoing education.

I finished a total of four paintings. I will post two of them today and the last two in a few days.  I am struck by a number of things.  Above is a view from Olomana Community Park, and is very much the iconic view of Olomana.
 
The above picture was painted on October 28 at 9:20 in the morning. There was a real softness to the morning light that I tried to capture. There is a nice blue tinge to everything.

This painting above is a view from Kailua High School's baseball field.  The little bump on the left side is actually more of the Ahiki (backside) Ridge which is almost as long as the right peak. 

The second work was painted closer to noon--about 11:30-- and the noon sunlight is a lot more dramatic and harsh.

After working in Kailua for a little bit, I am finding that Olomana is really captivating as a subject and is very inspirational. I hope to use these studies for a series of larger paintings in acrylic and oil of the mountains.  I very much see these watercolors as studies for that larger project.

"Inspiration follows aspiration."

 ~ Rabindranath Tagore