My painting, “Tumbling Pineapples”, recently won an award in the Hawai`i Watercolor Society’s Members’ Exhibit. You can see the entire exhibit online: http://www.hawaiiwatercolorsociety.org/hws-shows/

Would you like to know a story behind this painting? 

Tumbling Pineapples was started after I had made a quick stop at the Dole Pineapple Plantation on the North Shore of O`ahu.

After taking photos of all the pineapple displays and pineapple  plants on the grounds, I went back to my studio to sketch out my ideas.  Once the drawing was done, I covered the watercolor paper with texture  and paint, and waited for it to dry.

All paintings go through what I call an adolescent stage — a time of angst when things just don’t fit or feel quite “right”. This piece went through its share of growing pains before settling into being the painting it is today.

Tumbling Pineapples was submitted to four exhibits before it was accepted into this one — and then it won an award!

If I had stopped after my first, second, or even third rejections, if I hadn’t kept submitting this painting to different exhibits, it never would have won anything! 

The painting didn’t change during the submission process. The eyes making the selection changed, along with the other images submitted to the exhibit.

Tumbling Pineapples isn’t the only painting in this exhibit with a similar story.

Diane Tunnell’s“Magnificent Iris” painting was thought to be less than successful by her mentors. They encouraged her to enter other paintings, and discouraged her from entering the iris.

Diane took their comments to heart. She adjusted the colors and value structure of her painting. She believed in the value of her painting, submitted it to the show, and won an award.

Let these stories be a lesson to you — persistence pays off!

When we truly believe in our art, we must listen to our inner guidance and continue put it forward to share with others.

We never really know whose heart our art is meant touch.

Keep Your Eye on the PrizeWhen I began to return to my artistic roots, I started with drawing. I used colored pencils to describe my inner world, and that of others (with their permission).

This image is an example of one of those drawings; I called them Energy Essence Portraits. They were personal mandalas that “spoke” to me as I drew. I kept a notebook at my side & recorded words that popped into my head while I drew.

In the beginning, I needed total silence to do these drawings; even music distracted me. This work required my total focus. That is why I would get up at four AM to ensure peace and quiet in the house.

After a year of silent drawing in the wee hours of the morning, my circumstances shifted and necessity conspired with reality to create times when the presence of others while I drew was unavoidable.

Fortunately I had honed my focus by that time and could draw without being distracted by others.

By the time I’d moved to Honolulu in 2000, I realized that my focus had become so strong that I could paint in public. Nowadays I paint at galleries and fairs so people can watch the painting unfold along with me.

Over the years I’ve realized that the more intensely I focus on my painting, the less time I paint at any one time. As a result of focusing so singularly, I am able to accomplish quite a lot in a short amount of time. This allows me to schedule short blocks of time in which to work on a wide variety of projects.

Focus is focus. It doesn’t matter what you focus upon, as long as your attention is aligned with your intention, your focus will be strong and pure.

You can start to hone your focus by setting aside 5–10 minutes at a time, 2–3 times a week, to devote to one task. Choose something you have wanted to do, but haven’t been able to make time for doing. Ideally this task will be one very close to your heart.

Do this task for 5–10 min at a time, 2–3 times a week, for three weeks. I promise you will be amazed at how much you accomplish in those 30–90 minutes of time. Your new-found ability to focus with intention on almost anything will sneak up on you.

The really good news is that focus, once honed, follows you from task to task. Your ability to focus on almost anything is a skill worth learning.

You can read more about focus here: http://dreamheartsmartart.blogspot.ch/

The New Year has begun and so have weekly sessions of life drawing. Drawing a live model is one of the most energizing ways to invigorate a drawing practice.

Yes, I'm primarily a painter, but drawing forms the bones of most of my paintings. Drawing live models ensures I maintain fast eye-hand coordination.

Each class begins with ten two-minute poses. These warm-up exercises loosen up the hands and eyes, and train us to get the basic form drawn quickly.

Once we've gone through those poses (and taken a ten minute coffee/tea break) we draw ten-minute poses. The sketch shown here is from a ten-minute pose. The model, seen on the left side of the photo, is resting between poses.

Often my best drawings are done quickly, before I've gotten too involved with the outcome or concerned with how well I'm doing. Maybe the Ten-Minute Revolution is more pervasive than I'd thought. We really can get a lot done ten minutes at a time.

I would be happy to stop painting mermaids, except they keep showing up in my life.

This one came to me in the comics one Sunday last month. It's one of Chad Carpenter's Tundra Comics.

The caption reads: "If you ask me, that mermaid was a waste of money! I haven't seen her clean the tank yet!"

Too funny! For all the mermaids I've painted, I had never once thought of a real maid! DAH!

No, I haven't turned this idea into a painting, but she brought a smile to my face.

There are more reasons to paint than I can count. Certainly the joy of painting is big a enough reason for me!

PS My favorite comic of late, "Cul de Sac" by Richard Thomas recently ended. I've been saddened to be sure, but just recently learned that the comic was ended because of Richard Thomas' Parkinson's Disease has made it difficult to render his strip on a regular basis. 

No matter who we are, no matter what we do, let us all do our very best to create our dreams for as long as possible, and to support those who can no longer do so. I believe you can still  purchase Cul de Sac products on Richard's site; I encourage you to do so.