France Drawings
Forest Boulder III
Mauka to Makai
Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Flamingo
Crooked Tree
From the Orchid Garden I
Queen's Pool
Queen's Pool
Tree and Orchid
Gentle Rain
Two Waterfalls
Chinese Garden
Crossing
Manoa Stream with Gold Palm
Golden Light
From the Orchid Garden
Two Dancing Palms
Stairs I
Stairs II
Stairs III
Night Tree
Pineapple Bungalow I
Forest Boulders I
Forest Boulders II
Pineapple Bungalow II
Red Trees
Magic Island
Yonder Coconut Palm
Yellow Bank
Patterns of Color
Two Banyans at Sunset
Still Life with Geisha
Cloudy Day Greens
White Bungalow
Lotus Pond Triptych
Spider Lilly
Pineapple Bungalow III
Ginger Blooms
Five Birds of Paradise
Tropical Tree Bloom
Passion Flower
Flamingo Study I
Flamingo Study II
Foster Gardens Study, 1988
Primeval Glen I
Pali Stream I
Pali Stream II
Canonball Flower
Double Bird of Paradise
Hula Triptych, Medinella Magnificate
Palm Fan
Queen Kapiolani Vine Flowers
Hula Triptych, Hula Manu
Hula Triptych, Hibiscus
Sacred Rock
Jungle Vine
Dying Palm
Kindred Spirits
Medinella Magnificate, 1983
Buddha's Path
Trees with Bromeliad
Bamboo Waters
Double Coconut 1985
Palm Fronds
Textures 1987
Figure-Ground Study 1987.
Imprimatura Green Nude, 1986.
Self Portrait, 1986.
Three Nudes, Impasto Tones 1986
Lily Pads
Alla Prima Nude, 1986
Banana Blossom
Briad of Charle Davis', 1984
Foster Garden Orchid, 1984
Walker Garden Tree Orchid 1984
Heleconia 1984
Yellow Drapery, Red Fabric 1987
White Bird
Red Flower in the Forest
Quick Orchid Study
Manoa Stream II
Manoa Stream III
Crooked Tree, a mural-sized oil painting, surrounds the viewer who steps inside that landscape, full of memories of my life in Honolulu.
The painting shares an intimate view of the Queen’s Pool located in Nuuanu. To reach the stream which feeds the pool, I hike across river rocks, snake around large boulders and follow a muddy trail to two waterfalls. There guarding the pool is a crooked tree shaped like a deer with antlers. Right at the crook like a snout, the tree protrudes flirtatiously toward a smaller tree.
Centuries ago, Royal Hawaiian queens and princesses softened their skin with oily, sweet mud. The pool is surrounded by fragrant ginger. Kukui nut trees shade the pool and exude oil into the mud.
The water moistens the mud. To ease the painting process of painting on location, I place my equipment and paints in black garbage bags which I store inside a large monkey-pod tree trunk. Not only does the black bag in the tree lie hidden from other eyes; it keeps out the rain.
While I paint, I feel rain forest spirits speak through soft breezes. Flickering sun and deep shadows increase the mystery as I gain a voice in the poetry of a tropical rainforest. As I paint, I think of the 19th century French painter Paul Gauguin’s search for paradise in the South Pacific. I search for the same deep tonal colors captured among the large shapely plants and flowers. Like Gauguin, I search for hidden spirits in nature.
© 2016 Rosanna Hardin Hall