KULA VISTA

Kula Vista, oil 12 x 16

We drive first thing in the morning for Kula, where I am meeting the Maui Plein Air Painters.  Up and up we go, above the Lavender farm where the newly paved one-lane road has steep edges with no room for passing.  From here, we have a view of the isthmus, West Maui, Lanai, and Kahului.  I set up to paint in a stand of painted eucalyptus, torn between painting the valley view or the colorful trees.  Most of the way through my painting, the clouds roll in.  Anyone who arrives now will have to paint the fog.

PRICKLY PEAR

Line of Palms

Maui has quite a bit of desert, out here in the middle of the ocean.  So we are not surprised to see prickly pear cactus which has taken a hold in the desert area near Ahihi.  But here in Kula, the prickly pear is 8 feet tall and overgrown with grasses, mixed among mango trees and bananas.  Like a desert plant growing in the rainforest. What's up with that?