Octoberfest and Beach Paintings

This post is, unfortunately not about all of the wonderful people that I met and all of the money that I made in Kona this weekend, because, sadly, I didn't get to go.  I was hoping to get into the October Kokua Kailua, a monthly festival where Ali'i Drive in Kona gets shut down so people can stroll the area without worrying about getting run over by cars, and local artists and downtown Kailua businesses take to the streets.  It's been getting more and more popular, and after being on a waiting list for a month, I discovered that I just didn't get my app in early enough for October - so here's hoping for November!

BUT
My husband and I were lucky enough to be invited by a close friend to attend the First Hilo Octoberfest as his guests.  They held the event as a fundraiser for Hawai'i Hospice, so the proceeds went to a good cause, and we got to spend a lovely afternoon visiting with friends, tasting beers and eating bratwurst at the old Wainaku Sugar Mill, (which is now the Wainaku Executive Center) overlooking Hilo Bay.  It's a really lovely spot.

This is what it looked like upon entering the festival.

Of course, Dorky - Me, What I got the most excited about while taking pictures was the public trail down to the beach and the views it offered of the ruins of the old mill.  Can you say PAINTING RESEARCH MATERIAL?!?  Love it!!

I also decided that since I've been focused on getting ready to do craft fairs, and none of them are ready to have me just yet, instead of working on more inventory that is going to take up room in my studio it was time to start a painting.  Here is the background painting.

     Here it is a few days later, with the figure roughed in.

And here it is today.  I'm finding that I liked it better in the previous step in a lot of ways, so my next step in the process will be to bring back more of the light, and rework those arm shadows.  I should have left them alone in the first place, but I was afraid they were under-painted.  And then I over-painted them and they looked terrible.  I've blanked them out in the hopes I can recreate the ones I had in the first place...which is why she looks flat.  And I spent so much time reworking the ocean so that it looks more realistic and textured, that I killed the movement, so I need to fix that too.  I swear I'm my own worst enemy.

Despite my struggles, I'm excited to finally be putting paint on canvas again!

Here's hoping you get to see the finished version by the next post or two....

Aloha!