This is the history of this painting. As a staff member of “Aloha Festivals” on the Big Island of Hawaii quite a few years ago I had to be in attendance at an event that took place at the rim of Halema’uma’u Crater. The event was the Investiture of the Aloha Festivals Royal Court. An Investiture is a ceremony to invest with authority or right. A large part of the ceremony was the appearance of the Hula Halau O Kekuhi (dance school) chanters and dancers. The chanters were so emotional and powerful in their delivery of the chants that I knew someday I would paint that scene. But how do you paint that kind of emotion? It has proven to be a challenge. I’ll try to take you through the process.
This is the preliminary sketch
Then it was transferred in two separate segments to a 24x30 canvas with the aid of a grid.
And more detail added
At this point I knew it wasn’t going to work because I had two main focuses, chanters and dancers, vying for the spotlight. After receiving a number of suggestions from artists on my art forums I decided to set it aside for a while, about three months to be exact.
I have resumed this painting and will show more steps tomorrow
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