The Big Island, June 2010

We went to the Big Island of Hawaii June 8-15th, stayed at the Hapuna Beach Prince Resort in an ocean front room. This was our view from the room, which was awesome! I didn't take alot of pictures on this trip because I took quite a few on previous trips.

Here are just a few shots of the beach, the snorkel entry area, the rocks, some hula and a pretty sky.

Big Island Trip Sketch Book

 We went to the Big Island of Hawaii, June 8-15. We stayed at the Hapuna Prince Beach Resort. Here's my sketchbook of what we did:

Wednesday, June 9th

Had a GREAT SNORKEL - lots of fish & crystal clear water. Drove to Kona, shopped at Ross (our favorite store!) and found some bargains, had lunch at Don's Chinese, walked through downtown Kona (to the palace, the old church, the shops), swam at the hotel but water was rough, had drinks at the Reef Lounge and fed the feral cats (and a mongoose or two).

Thursday, June 10th

Had another GREAT SNORKEL in early morning, clear, calm, lots of fish. We drove to Hilo and saw all of the lush vegetation. We did some more shopping in Hilo at Ross & Macy's, looked around town. We've been there before, so didn't do any of the tourist stuff. I swam in the snorkel cove because the waves were high on the beach. In the evening we went to our lounge and then took the shuttle over to the Mauna Kea where they had hula.

Friday, June 11th

We went snorkeling again in the early morning - the water was more cloudy and wavy, but was still pretty good. Rick was bitten by mosquitos in the night and had welts all over his legs. We went to the King's Shops in Waikoloa and had lunch at Arnie's Clubhouse at the hotel. Afternoon swimming was GREAT. It was hula night at the lounge and we saw students from the local halau. Back in the room we went on a mosquito seeking mission to rid the room of insects.

Saturday, June 12th

We didn't snorkel today because it was wavy and Rick's mosquito welts were bothering him under the fins. We drove to Hawi on the north coast. The King Kamehameha statue was draped with leis from the holiday on Friday. I got a red garnet necklace at a cute jewelry shop. We had lunch at the Snack Shack (where we've gone several times before. Afternoon swimming.

Sunday, June 13th

Morning snorkeling was not very good today. It was wavy, windy and murky, though we did see three turtle! That was fun. Today we went to Waimea to look around. I wen to the bead shop and the Parker Ranch shops. We found out that feral cats who have been fixed have snipped ears to mark them! We'd noticed that a number of cats had notched ears and just thought they'd gotten in fights. There's a local group that spays and neuters the many, many area cats. In the afternoon I drove to the Shops at Mauna Lani and went through the Lahaina Gallery. I wanted to see their Darrell Hill paintings. Great afternoon swimming!!

Monday, June 14th

This was our last full day. Snorkeling was again wavy and cloudy, but we did see some turtles again. Had lunch at the Beach Bar and spent the afternoon reading, napping, and swimming! We didn't take the car out at all today.

Paintings from Spring Term

Here are the rest of my Spring term paintings. These are all in oils and I used the water soluble oil paints.

This is a painting of our Sheltie Jack who passed away in May. I used one of the recent photos I took of him. I started this one in blue, because his natural black color is so dark it's hard to differentiate the shades. I will also try a normal color painting of him.

This started out as splotches of all the "end of day" paints after class. I just swabbed the colors onto an extra canvas. At the end, I found a photo of an old guy and added him.

This was my frustration painting for the term. It's not what I wanted or intended, but I didn't know how to fix it. So, I'll leave it.

This is a painting I did from a painting workbook. I'll have to add the name later.