Paradise Found

I FINALLY finished a painting that I started months ago following our whirlwind trip to Hawaii last October.

Paradise Found, 30" x 40" /  76.2cm x 101.6cm

 

Paradise Found (Detail)

The scene is based loosely on Tunnels Beach (aka Makua Beach) on the northeastern shores of Kauai. (We didn't make it there, but the pictures I saw made the distant mountains irresistible). Rather than going into a strict rendering of how Tunnels Beach looks, I added a lot of fantasy to the scene to make it into a "paradise found": a world that I would want to escape to; just beauty and peace everywhere; in a land inhabited by nice, caring people; music and dancing that stirs the soul and landscapes of unimaginable serenity and magic.

Of course, I doubt there ever was such a place as this, and especially not in modern times. Even Hawaii struck me as being a paradise lost but with some of its beauty remaining.

I had intended the vahine walking toward us to be an actual person, but she's small enough in the painting (3.5" / 8.9cm) where getting that tiny face to look like someone just didn't work.

Also, many of the plants I depicted would not grow this close to the shore -- too intolerant of the salt spray. But: it IS MY fantasy!!

And the tiki -- well, it looks like a pregnant female. She may be a goddess of fertility or something like that. I added it just to give more Polynesian flavor to the image. The dancers and drummers are definitely Tahitian, but this is not intended to be any real place.

I have other imaginary "paradise found" places in my head, too. Maybe someday I'll meet you there!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com 

A Future Painting

We-e-e-l-l-l...

My original intention was to write in this blog at least once a week. But lately, it's been down to once a month!

But, I'm older (as we all are), gotten into a lazy state of mind, not highly motivated, and tired. Stuff that's been going on in the country -- coronavirus, politics and the extreme hatred out there, stuff like that -- has been taking my focus off of what I need to be doing.

So what images are in my head these days?

Jamaica  -- 1871                                                                     Frederick Edwin Church

Jamaica is a painting I've loved for a long time. I plan to paint a scene similar to this, except it will be of Hawai'i or other Polynesian island, and it will combine elements of existing landscapes and some imaginary aspects as well.

I'd like to get started on it soon, but: 1. we're still unpacking from our move last August -- seven months ago!; and: 2. I need to get some commissions finished, hopefully VERY soon!

The time will come, God willing, and it'll give me something to look forward to!

Mark Junge
www.MarkJunge.com

Sun 'N' Surf

Ahhh...California! Just the name conjures up scenes like this, doesn't it?

This state has it all when it comes to scenery -- sandy beaches and rugged coastline, mountains, deserts, redwood forests, the highest and lowest points in the continental USA, Yosemite, a theoretically active volcano, and a totally inept state legislature -- but we won't get into that. This time, anyway.

My wife and I lived in Colorado during the 1990's -- and we missed California terribly. We realized California isn't the perfect "sun 'n' surf" place it's made out to be, and it isn't always the "land of fruits and nuts," either.

But as a landscape painter, the variety of spectacular scenery would be hard to match anywhere else.

On the other hand, much of the scenery resulted from earthquakes and land movement. Someday, the area we live in will be devastated -- it's inevitable. It could happen in our lifetimes, or it may not. We prefer "not." We hope to continue enjoying the results of nature's handiwork, and I hope to continue to paint it for as long as I'm able to do so.

Someday, too, the cliffs on the right in the above painting will collapse, and this area (in Laguna Beach) will look quite differently than the way it looks in the artwork.

That's California for ya!