Celebrating on Kauai

This December, my husband and I celebrated our 50th (anniversary) on Kauai with our daughter and her three children. While there, I shot several photos of the beautiful landscape and flora and did some plein aire sketching. Sketching or painting near public gatherings always draws a curious crowd of people who are amazed that anyone would attempt to paint and are always very nice and complimentary. It's always a 'good feel' experience. There was never enough time to capture the beauty of the flowers, seascapes, people, and special sites.

My husband is in the pool watching granddaughter enjoy sliding down the fun slide into the wonderful pool that never needs to be heated!

This is a view from our condo patio of the Sleeping Bear Mountain outside Kapaa.

Hibiscus of several different colors grow everywhere on the island. Several bushes were growing on the grounds at the condo where we were staying plus red ginger and other plants I could not identify.

The sunrises and sunsets on Kauai are unbelievable with rich colors, dark purple clouds with several hues in lavender, gold, salmon and yellow. I walked out to the beach in front of our condo on Waipouli Beach to capture the photo at dawn when it was still slight dark in order to capture the best shot of the rising sun. This sketch was done today from that photo.

It was a good time to get off our island and celebrate a special occasion with my husband and family but it's always good to be back to normal on Whidbey with friends and continue with painting and sketching.