Thursday, February 14, 2008

Painting Diamond Head

Le'ahi Sunrise
8 x 12 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix
Miki Willa

One of the most photographed and painted landmarks in Hawaii is Diamond Head Crater, known locally as Le'ahi. I think every local artist has painted it at sunrise or sunset. I try not to paint what has been painted too many times before, but the lure was too great. I see it every day from my school since we are so close. It is ever changing. The morning light is from the back from my location. Only the inside peak of the crater catches the sun. In the afternoon, it takes on a golden glow as the sun sets. When it has been raining, the slopes are many shades of green. During the dry times, it is the ever present reddish brown. It is well worn by the Pacific rain and winds. I do understand why people seek it out.
My camera had a hard time with the colors in the sunrise. I tried adjusting them with Photoshop using levels and curves. Unfortunately, The peach and pink got lost in the photo. If my husband's camera does a better job, I will replace this one.

1 comment:

Tom Willa said...

Beautiful light God's Light sunrise. i think you capture it. The painter of light developed the glowing stuff, but your style is capturing the morning light when it shines on the clouds from the tradewinds and Diamond Head. Another place where this angel hair clouds can be found some morning is the Pali'i. GreaT JoB!!