March 1, 2021

Aloha! 

This weekend, I picked up my three pieces from the juried Plein Air Art Show at the Wailoa Art Center in Hilo. Over 100 works depicted the Big Island from all perspectives, including a number of Kona side works from our West Hawaii Plein Air Painters (of which I am an irregular member.)

Now that the show is over, my piece "Miloli‘i Headlights" has unexpectedly received the People's Choice Award. Woohoo! I was already surprised by the feedback on social media. I never know what pieces will speak to people.

Colorful houses dot the lava like a chessboard in the remote fishing village of Miloli'i. 

Despite the strong pigments I struggled to find the right values until I changed the setting to near dusk. A few dots for headlights and porch lights did the trick.

"Miloli‘i Headlights" is one of my 3 plein air paintings exhibited in the statewide juried exhibition at Hilo's Wailoa Center, where it received the People's Choice Award.

"Kona Snow" began on my truck’s tailgate. A local coffee farm was in full bloom, and the white blossoms, or Kona snow, gave off the scent of gardenias or an orange grove. They only flower for a day or two so I had to paint fast.

Then it started to rain.

I retreated to the cab and cracked the window open to wait but the drizzle continued. The farmer and his dog came out to tend his trees in the rain, so I figured I should too. I set up my palette in the passenger seat and got back to work.

"Kona Snow" is my 2nd plein air painiting that was in the statewide juried exhibition at Hilo's Wailoa Art Center.

“It Never Rains in Hilo” - it seems we always take the Kona sunshine with us whenever we visit the rainy side of the island. 

My plein air painting proved it, and was one of 3 accepted for the statewide juried exhibition at Hilo’s Wailoa Center February 5-25, 2021.

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Mark Martel
March 1, 2021
www.markmartel.com

 

 

 

January, 2020 Introducing my new website, MarkMartel.com Kate & I are very pleased to introduce MarkMartel.com The new website showcases my best work since we landed in Hawai‘i almost 8  years ago.  It also includes some older favorites as well as portraits (including pets),  book covers & illustrations over the years. And it all happened thanks to Kate’s  great web design work. Brighten your inbox with my latest work and get an occasional newsletter by  Subscribing to my list. Please look for an email from Artspan to confirm your  subscription. In December I entered the age of social media.  Next time you’re on Instagram  or Facebook, please “Like” and “Follow” me there too. Thanks for reading, and have a very happy new year! Mark & Kate Martel January, 2021 www.markmartel.com Don’t forget to visit my site and subscribe here. Then look for the email from Artspan to confirm your subscription.

Kauai, July 2020

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We spent a lovely week on Kauai in July 2020, during the pandemic. There are few COVID-19 cases on our island of Hawaii, and no active cases on Kauai. It was a good time to go. We'll never see Kauai like this again, with few tourists. As on our island, businesses are shuttered and beaches are empty, with local people and a few tourists from Oahu, and even fewer like ourselves visiting from islands other than Oahu. 

It's hard on businesses and unemployment is high. Local people are taking advantage of the time to enjoy these islands, spending time outdoors surfing, fishing and hiking.  Few restaurants are open, mostly takeout. The beaches and shorelines are healing, taking a rest from overuse.

As I write this, Hurricane Douglas has passed us by on the Big Island, also sparing Maui and Oahu. It's on a direct path to Kauai, so we certainly hope Douglas keeps moving north and that everyone on Kauai will be safe. 

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Here we are the night before leaving, after having dinner just down the street at Keoki's Fish & Chips. Keoki's has this great mural of Hanalei Bay, our next day's destination on the north shore of Kauai.

Here's Hanalei Bay for real:

We flew over Pearl Harbor into Honolulu. There we found an outdoor garden to pass the time safely between flights.

Stopped at Safeway in Lihue and then on past Hanalei to Ha'ena on the north shore of Kauai. We drove over 7 one-lane bridges to get there. Ha'ena has an end-of-the earth quality to it, especially now with so few tourists.

The first morning we were serenaded by a guitarist singing and chanting in Hawaiian. Pretty sure it was a professional photoshoot.

We explored a few miles west, to the end of the road.

Ha'ena Beach

White-Tailed Tropicbird, or Koa'e'kea

Very lucky to spot the rare double-belled beachsider, quite rare and even extinct in most places. Known for its distinctive calls.

Add caption

No, Mark, you have to put a quarter in it.

Ke'e beach

Nobody here but us chickens

There is only one restaurant west of Hanalei, and it was next door, and open! If you go to the Opakapaka Grill, definitely have the fish or shrimp. Not the pizza 😯

Day 3, to the Kilauea Lighthouse and National Wildlife Refuge, and Hanalei

On Saturday, we returned to Ke'e Beach where I took my favorite photo of the trip. Normally, a congested tourist spot, there were just a few locals fishing and picnicking under umbrellas. 

We hiked a little way up the trail to look down over the Napali Coast.

 

A walk through Limahuli National Tropical Botanical Garden

Outdoor dining at Ama in Hanalei - Ramen with a view, and a double rainbow

Sunday - we drove 2 hours to the west side of the island to catch a spectacular boat ride along the Napali Coast. Captain A'a and his daughter Hi'ilei gave a wonderful tour. It was a small boat with just 9 passengers, mostly nurses from Honolulu. Plenty of space on board, and masks are not necessary while riding outdoors in a moving boat. 

We did see Comet Neowise one night. Too faint for a photo, but we could see it very clearly through binoculars. It will be back in about 7,000 years.

There was a cool octopus sculpture outside our room

More views of Hanalei Bay

Next time, I want to paddle up one of Kauai's flat, lazy rivers.

Flying back through Honolulu to Kona, picked up a tired pup who spent a week playing with his buddies at Paws University, and some laundry Hawaiian Style.