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I'm so excited to have been interviewed by Zsolt on The Crazy Mind blog. Please take a moment to click on the link button.

"Spring in Kings Beach" is this weeks featured painting. Since March 20th is the first day of Spring, I thought this painting was the perfect choice. As many of you know, I grew up in Kings Beach. I spent every summer at this beach, it was just two blocks from my house and only three buildings from my families gallery, Lakeside Gallery. The scene here is of a beautiful spring day and is from a reference photo I took while taking a morning walk. The tourists hadn't arrived yet and the lake was full. I would walk along the beach from one end to the other, both morning and evenings. During peek tourist season, my children and I would often go to the beach after dinner and pick up garbage left by the tourists. It always saddened me how much trash people left behind. It showed such great disrespect for our beautiful lake and environment. This painting is sure to brighten any room in your house. It's perfect for your "mountain living" themed decor. The original 16 x 20 painting has sold. Prints are available in a variety of sizes, on paper, canvas and metal. This image is also available on throw pillows, tote bags and of course cards! Thank you for taking the time to view my work.

A good friend of mine, Jim Kingwell, owns a gallery in Lahaina. Last week He asked me to bring in some of my miniatures to showcase in his beautiful display case. Now how could I not say "no"? I gathered 8 miniature paintings and headed down to his gallery the next day. Check out the link posted here to visit his website.

This weeks featured painting is "Who Me?". This is a sweet Hawaiian honu, sea turtle, wanting to share his world with you. Here in Maui Hawaii there are lots of beaches where these gentle creatures come to rest. On land they may be slow but in the ocean they are graceful and powerful. This painting is sure to brighten any room in your house. It's perfect for your "under the sea" themed bathroom or your child's bedroom. The original 8 x 10 acrylic painting is available. Prints are also available in a variety of sizes, on paper, canvas and metal. This image is also available on throw pillows, tote bags and of course cards! Thank you for taking the time to view my work.

It's the Year of the Monkey and I happen to have a great painting to honor all the fun loving monkeys out there. So this week I'm featuring "Year Of The Monkey". This is a 10x10 inch textured painting I did with tissue paper and acrylic. You can see all my Chinese Zodiac paintings in my Chinese Zodiac gallery or click the link button.

Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Monkey thrive on having fun. They're energetic, upbeat, and good at listening but lack self-control. They like being active and stimulated and enjoy pleasing self before pleasing others. They're heart-breakers, not good at long-term relationships. But boy, do they like a good time.

The original painting is not available. Prints are available in a variety of sizes, on paper, canvas and metal. This image is also available on throw pillows, tote bags and of course cards! Thank you for taking the time to view my work.

"Sunset Sail" is an acrylic palette knife painting on Masonite board. There is a lot of texture in this one. The bright yellow sun is the main focus. The complimentary orange clouds add drama to the blue sky and water. Taking a sunset cruise is such a romantic thing to do here on Maui. The sunsets are spectacular. The gentile swells of the ocean and salty sea breezes adds so much to the experience. And if you are lucky ( depending on the time of year ) you might see a whale or two. The original painting is available. Prints are also available in a variety of sizes, on paper, canvas and metal. This image is also available on throw pillows, tote bags and of course cards! Thank you for taking the time to view my work.

"Tag Your It" is an acrylic painting on canvas board. I'm a big fan of dolphins and have been most my life. Here are some fun facts about them.
Dolphins are extraordinarily intelligent animals who also display culture, something which was long-believed to be unique to humans. They have been observed teaching their young how to use tools. They cover their snouts with sponges to protect them while foraging.

Dolphins have several highly developed forms of communication. They have a signature whistle which allows other individuals to reccognise them.
They are altruistic animals. They are known to stay and help injured individuals, even helping them to the surface to breath. Their compassion also extends across the species-barrier. There are many accounts of dolphins helping humans and even whales.They live in groups and cooperate with each other to get food and in raising offspring (calves).


Dolphins are extremely playful and curious animals. They play-fight with each other and also play with seaweed. They have also been known to play with other animals such as dogs.
Dolphins sleep by resting one side of the brain at a time. This allows them to continue rising to the surface for air and to keep an eye open to watch out for predators.

Living on the tropical island of Maui has many advantages, one of them being able to eat Maui Gold pineapples all year long. This sweet, juicy tropical fruit has been a favorite of mine since I was a small child and Maui grows the best. The pineapple has became a familiar symbolic image of welcome, good cheer, warmth and affection between all who dwell inside the home. This painting is done with acrylic on watercolor paper. When looking through my "Sold" art work inventory I noticed I have sold a lot of pineapple paintings and prints. It seems the "Symbol of Hospitality" is quite popular. What is it about this sweet, succulent fruit that attracts people? Is it the shape? The color? Or is it just the meaning that us humans have given it. Should I over annualize these questions, or just go with the flow? In my quest for answers I decided to do a search on the history of how pineapples became the symbol of hospitality. It all started in 1493 when Columbus saw his first pineapple on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. He described the pineapple in his journal by saying "They are like an artichoke plant, but four times as tall, which gives the fruit the shape of a pine cone, twice as big, which fruit is excellent, and it can be cut with a knife like a turnip, and it seems to be very wholesome.". Columbus brought the pineapple back to Europe, which was devoid of sweet foods, including fresh fruit. The popularity and curiosity for the pineapple became a coveted commodity for two centuries after it's arrival in Europe. The pineapple captured the imagination of both the Old and New World. Seafaring captains used them like trophies to signify a triumphant journey home. They would impale the pineapples in front of their homes to symbolize "Visitors Welcome". Architects started working the shape of the pineapple into entrance columns, stair-rail finials, gate posts, weather vanes and door knockers. In the Americas innkeepers added pineapple to their signs and advertisements. Bed posts and headboards with pineapples carved on them became a common sight. Pineapples were being woven on welcome mats and intricate needlework on fine linens. Hostesses would set a pineapple in the center of their dining table when entertaining guests. Hostesses of affluent homes would try to outdo each other by creating memorable displays. Captain Cook introduced the fruit to the Pacific and Hawaii islands in the 1770s. However, commercial cultivation did not begin until the 1880s when steamships made transporting the perishable fruit viable. James Dole started canning pineapples in 1903. By 1921 the Dole Hawaiian Pineapple Company was booming, making pineapple Hawaii's largest crop and industry for 40 years. Well now, there you have it. A short history on how the pineapple became the symbol of hospitality. It's symbolic image of welcome, good cheer and warmth and affection is still used by the hotel and restaurant industries and homes around the world. I no longer wonder why my Pineapple paintings are so popular. I'm just glad they are. "Maui Pineapple 2" is this weeks featured painting. This is an acrylic painting on watercolor paper. The original painting is available. Prints are also available in a variety of sizes, on paper, canvas and metal. This image is also available on throw pillows, tote bags and of course cards! Thank you for taking the time to view my work.

It seems 2015 flew by in a hurry! I was so busy all year the days and weeks started to blur together. I'm so looking forward to 2016, the year of magic! Well, that's what I'm calling any way. In fact I'm putting it on my calendar as a header to remind me to look and find those magical moments in each day.

Only 5 days into the year and I've had many magical moments. January 1st we went to a artist friend's art opening at Village Gallery in Lahaina. While there I kept getting called over to the Gift shop to meet people interested in my work. Two of my paintings sold that night. One of them is posted here, Makena Beach. This is a new style I'm working on.....more about that later.

Jan 2nd, Charlie and I headed up to Haleakala for a day of photography. I was dreading the cold temps on the top of the mountain, I'm a wimp when it comes to cold. But the day proved to be very mild and nice at the summit, which is over 10,000 feet. The views were spectacular and the photo ops perfect. We even saw a triple rainbow sitting above the clouds between two mountain peaks. That was my magical moment of the day!

Jan 3rd, we headed to my favorite place on Maui, Olowalu. Charlie was hoping we'd see some whales so he could photograph them. No whales, but plenty of magic! The day was so beautiful, perfect really. Just enough clouds in the sky, a slight breeze and a gentile surf to make photographing the West Maui Mountains and shore a, well, breeze. Then it was home to a pot of spaghetti with home made sauce and a night of Downton Abbey. What a perfect way to start the New Year.

Now we are into day five and my calendar is stating to fill up. Students are booking classes, Lahaina Arts Association ( the non-profit I'm President of ) is gearing up for an exciting new event called "Maui Masters Invitational" in February and orders for new paintings are coming in from the galleries that represent my work.

But no matter how busy this year gets, I'm going to focus on the magic of every day and work on some new paintings. Which brings me back to the painting shown in this post. This painting may look like a regular watercolor painting, but in fact, it is an acrylic painting on watercolor paper. I'll be doing a lot more of these as the year progresses. So keep your eyes out for them.

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog post. I hope your year will bring you some magic too. Come back again to see what I'm up to. Bye for now.

Song lyrics by Bing Crosby

"Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas day
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say Merry Christmas to you

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas day
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say Merry Christmas to you

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say Merry Christmas to you

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas day
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say Merry Christmas
A very Merry Christmas
A very, very, Merry, Merry Christmas to you"

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