Elaine Marie Austin

Drawing from past experiences Perplexed about how to proceed with the Aloha Tower, I searched for a way to move forward. Since I have been drawing since I was five years old, I reverted to familiar territory. I looked at the sketches I drew while visiting the lighthouse and the photos I had taken and began drawing. I relied on rulers and perspective to form a skeleton of the lighthouse. D89EBE31-907C-4E33-9F06-C1467CB879A5

My son has a saying when “you’re on it you’re on it and when you’re not it’s ok.” I thought alot about this when I was painting the Aloha Tower Lighthouse. Typically I do a wash before seeing a lighthouse to keep from being locked in. But I forgot to do “washes” before traveling to Hawai’i. For days I stared at the blank watercolor wash I had made. Perhaps the Aloha Tower was my way of saying goodbye to painting lighthouses. After all, “Aloha” means hello and goodbye. I definitely was not on it. When I learned that the Aloha Tower was an Art Deco style building it started to make sense. I drew Art Deco buildings prior to painting lighthouses. It appeared I had come full circle. That seemed to be an overarching theme of my second Hawai’i trip…full circle. It would summon all the experiences I had learned as an artist to draw such a complex structure as the Aloha Tower. 8F454939-F498-4946-BD1E-F8846132B8E2

I’m still working my way back from a creative slump. Attempted to so the daily prompt on welcome. 44CDDAC9-FF33-4255-A7C4-822B5EF71663