2012 Koolau - Kualoa Beach Park

These watercolors done at Kualoa Beach Park. I did them in the same trip as these. 

The sunlight was fading and I wanted to start the drive home. As I was walking back to the car I was awestruck by the way the light was hitting the mountain. It looked so blue against the gray sky. I sat at a traffic barricade next to my car and quickly sketched out these two paintings.

I am rather happy with this painting now. For a while, it remained a half finished sketch in watercolor. There were some moments where I thought of abandoning it, I really didn't like it. Mainly because I really messed up the shape of the mountain. 

It is a little darker then I would have liked it. That is more of a by product of the multiple layers of paint on this one.

Before I got back in my car I did a quick contour line drawing of the mountain. The dim light obscured all the ridges of the mountains.  There was just a strong shape of the mountains against the sky.

I really like what the paint is doing in this painting. The star-bursts from where the watercolor pooled on the page look really sharp. I was pretty lucky with them as they can be a very fickle thing.

"Watercolor is like life.

 Better get it right the first time – you don't get a second chance!" 

~Sergei Bongart