Spotlight on Art Gallery Maui Hands

Spotlight on Art Gallery Maui Hands

Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace.

Maui Hands is a local Hawaiian art gallery featuring a variety of exceptional, contemporary artwork and over 300 artists, jewelers, crafters, glassblowers, and more. Maui Hands is an outstanding exhibition of distinctive Hawaiian life and culture, and it has been representing Hawaii’s fine artists for more than 20 years.

Artist Kathy McCartney painting in the Maui Hands Gallery Paia, HI
This painting is in progress should be completed soon visit McCartneyFineArt.com to view completed metal art painting.

"Falling in Love All Over Again." by Kathy McCartney
Mixed medium etched metal, oil, acrylic paint, and clear coat

"Reflection" original oil painting on
canvas sold.  Now available in
giclee on canvas or metal by
artist Kathy McCartney 

From original fine art paintings, prints, crafty ceramics, gorgeous jewelry, and intimate woodwork, Maui Hands highlights the cultural diversity of Hawaii and the divine talent of its artists. Today’s 2016 artists include MauiVision’s very own Kathy McCartney, Derek Fine, Christine Waara, Luana Kama, and Patricia Heath, to name a few.

In June, watercolor painter Luana Kama featured her vibrant artwork at Maui Hands’ Lahaina location on Front Street. Here’s what she had to say…

“I have always loved art and did take classes throughout my life but when I got married and started to raise my family (5 boys), drawing and painting were pushed to the side. Today, I’m still living in Lahaina and having a great time painting like crazy,” said Kama.

“My other interests are sewing, reading, cooking and baking, crafts, and I take classes and teach Hula.”

Maui Hands features a wide-range of artists, including fine textiles and basket artists like Ipo Kudlich and Neola Caveny. Glass artists include Daniel Moe, Shelly Batha, Jim Graper, and Steve Tillman. Maui Hands features a top-quality selection of local, talented, multi-skilled, and multimedia artists who all add extra creativity and excitement to the thriving island of Maui.

With four locations in Maui, Maui Hands knows how to impress people from all across the world with their distinct artwork. The gallery supports over hundreds of artists, potters, glassblowers, sculptors, and woodworkers, and gives Hawaiian art and culture an unique name!

Visit Maui Hands in one of their locations — Makawao, Paia, Hyatt, or Lahaina — to get a taste of their highly exceptional and lively artists and to recognize the true beauty of art. 

Painting of My Son Finished (for now)

Aloha and thank you for visiting my blog.

My portrait of my son Ryan is complete.  I need to step away from it for a week and I might tweak it a little (the flowers and background), but overall I am happy with the results and will call it a day.  I am not selling the original, but I am available for commission work.  If you have a family member you would like painted please contact me. 

For commission work the cost depends on the size of the canvas and how many people are in the portrait and the detail and background.  The portrait of my son measures 11"x14" and the cost today is $465.00 US dollars. 

An original oil painting makes a great one of a kind gift.

Kathy
www.McCartneyFineArt.com
www.MauiVision.com

Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4 Painting - Time for R and R

 Progress End of Day 2

Progress end of Day 3

Progress end of Day 4

Day 2 - My first day of painting (the sky) is still wet. I like that, it makes painting the clouds easier for me. As I paint the clouds in with white and a touch of burnt sienna I melt the edges into the surrounding blue sky. This also tints the white down further. The edges of my clouds become soft and wispy when the colors blend. This is the beauty of oil. I let some of the orange canvas show through the clouds so there is a warm color and glow. Today I spent about 45 minutues.

Day 3 - I paint in the foundation of my sand with a mixture of white, burnt sienna, alizarin crimson, and yellow ochre. I use more white than the other colors mentioned until I get the sand color I desire (I will lighten the sand even more so later). The ocean is a mixture of phthalo blue, phthalo green and manganese blue and some alizarin crimson. I make the upper part of the ocean very dark and as I progress down the canvas I go lighter blue / green towards the sand. I melt the sand with the water. I start adding white caps in the distant water and shape water patterns in the shallow water with light purple shadows and I use more sand color to force the sand to show through the water around my shadows. I remove the tape and paint this part of the ocean the darkest. I take my time here to keep the horizon line straight. This takes a steady hand. I painted another 2 hours. The bigger the canvas the longer it takes to paint there is much more to cover.

Day 4 - I now start painting in the girl with Ivory black and white. I create different shades of gray. The paint is still wet so I can melt the colors of my original line drawing with the new paint. I am sculpting the figure to look more three dimensional with values of light, medium, and dark. I am focusing on blending the hard lines and colors together. As I am painting the figure I am redrawing the girl. The original drawing was a bit off. I add the first layer of paint to the hula skirt (I always start darker than what I see in the photo).

In case you are wondering I don’t always prime my canvas a color I sometimes paint my picture on a white canvas directly. And when I paint people or animals I don’t always start them out in gray. I sometimes go straight in with color.

I stop for the evening. I paint almost 2 hours.

Maui Beach Bum

This is a dog named “Nani” that befriended me and my boyfriend on the beach in Oahu's North Shore.

Nani means beautiful in Hawaiian. She found a coconut that had washed ashore and she was trying to tear in to it. Obviously her owners had shared the fruit with her before. My boyfriend with some effort finally was able to help her break this coconut open. Unfortunately inside there was no coconut milk it had all evaporated. Hawaii beach dogs are friendly. What a life they have!

I painted Nani in Wailea, Maui this is the background although as I said earlier we found her lounging on the beach in Oahu.   

If anyone knows the breed of this dog I am curious please share with me if you know.

I am available to do your pet commission, just drop me a line.

There is no Other Place I’d Rather be But All Washed Up on The Shores of Kauai

I love all the Hawaiian islands for different reasons, but Kauai is my favorite.  I think for me it is because I long for solitude and this island is the least busiest and therefore more quiet. This island is the oldest in the Hawaiian chain and it has transformed into a place of complete lush greenery and jagged rock formations that can only be created with millions of years of rain and erosion shaping and chiseling this unique terrain.

I call this new painting that I completed 9/16/10 "All Washed Up on Kauai's Shores" well because there is no other place I'd rather be all washed up and renewed!

It has been awhile since I last blogged and I will try to do better going forward.  There is so much to write about, and so little time it seems.  To be more faithful to the blog process I plan to post all my NEW paintings here and write about the inspiration, process, and big or small details. 

For the past two years, I continue to teach art and for eight years work my MauiVision vacation rental business. I feel blessed that I can do both self created jobs.  I have always said if there is a will (dream) there is a way.  It is wonderful to work from home and in an art gallery painting with flexible hours. I have been building up to this day.  I am 3/4 way complete with my first book draft.  I need to stay focused and get this project done.  I have been working on it for several years just gathering material.  The hard part is to organize my thoughts and force myself to do a lot of cutting to make this book strong and interesting.  They say if your book bores you it will surely bore others.  I keep this in mind as I continue to create and edit it.  I really hope to have this project done 2010 but with anything big I have attempted my projections are usually off from my ambitious time line.  But nonetheless I will get it done!

I have been painting a lot and participating in art shows and events trying to get exposure as a new artist. I have been marketing myself for a few years now and still trying to figure out what the best strategy is to get noticed.  People recommend getting a FaceBook business page hmmmm something else to keep track of.  I don't know I'm not totally convinced it is something I should do.  As a creative person with goals I have to watch how time is spent and not spread myself too thin.

That's all folks!  At least for today!

Mahalo for visiting.