Victoria in Kaua'i

Queen Victoria's Profile

12 x 16 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix board

Miki Willa

When Tom and I went to Kaua'i in September, we went on a backroads adventure that took us to a rocky outcrop looking back toward the Ha'upu Mountains. We didn't know it at the time, but we were looking directly at a little known tourist attraction: a mountain peak in the shape of Queen Victoria's profile. It is so named on tourist maps. Our guide didn't point this feature out to us until we were driving parallel to the range on the other side. It wasn't until I was trying to locate this bay on a map that I realized what the peak was. So much for my imagination.

This is my second painting on the new Art Spectrum Colourfix board, or plein air board. The same gritty surface has been sprayed onto 550 lb watercolor paper to create a lightweight board that is pretty sturdy for taking outdoors. I am not so sure it will hold up well in a wind, but it will probably do as well as paper mounted on foam core. I like working on it, so far, but I can see it may warp if not matted and framed right away. I do like working on the colourfix surface, and am glad the Art Spectrum people have stayed with that. I haven't tried the supertooth paper they have out yet. Someday, perhaps.