This painting was a commission from a pilot and her husband, a contractor who built their dream home and literally built the wall for the painting, complete with lighting specs and recess dimensions. I went flying in Phil Godwin’s seaplane ultralight to get the reference pictures. Unlike my plane, this was a hanglider type (a trike we call it), very different control and feel when I flew it!
The goal of this piece was to create a dramatic sense of depth perception and height. A perspective that is unfamiliar to most (unless you are a bird), it is ideal for showing off the beauty of all of Kailua’s Lanikai. This painting uses 6 elements of depth that maximize the effect. To create the illusion of depth in the most dramatic way, I chose a vertical composition that started with the foreground element (Mokulua Island), followed by the middleground elements (Lanikai Hills and Mount Olomana), and completed with the background (Koolau Mountain Range and the sky), all tied together with the ocean. Proper manipulation of the science of color and value are the keys to a successful illusion. The ocean’s texture helps to extend the foreground, along with the high contrast and extreme chroma in the island.
