Opihikao Evenings

I took a long time off from painting in my usual haunts along the Red Road (Puna Coastal Highway 137). This was partly because I injured my shoulder, and partly just out of tedium. I thought I was bored with the subject matter. But really it is beautiful to be out in the sea breeze, with the sunlight creating an ever-changing blaze of colors in the trees and on the rocks. Today Tuko and I joined Abby Rabinowitz, a painter from California who is looking at some property in the neighborhood. I've been working into a blue painting that I started many months ago. Waiting so long to pick it up again makes it very hard as the palm fronds all change position, and the ocean tide and waves change a lot too. In particular the drought has thinned out the palm foliage and made it a lot browner.