Drawings, 1997 - Hengst Studio

Pencil/paper
8.5″ x 11”
1997

“Hawaiian Studies”
Watercolor/paper
8.5″ x 11”
1997

This batch of watercolors are humble little sketches done on the dining room table of my friend’s rural cottage on the rainy side of Hawaii’s big island, Hawaii. They were done in response to my enthrallment with Hawaii’s vibrant colors and pristine tropical landscape and seascape. My trip there was meant to be a break from painting but I could not help myself.

I got a watercolor set from a Walmart in a nearby town and used the brush like parts of breadfruit lying on the ground to make this little Suite of works on paper. Clearly these pieces are an extension of the abstract/landscape work I was doing the previous couple of years in my studio. And they still have the stacking of Rothko’s work that was so influential on me since the 1980’s. But here, at last, is a breakthrough in allowing the landscape to present itself in a myriad of ways that would unlock a flood of creative activity that is arguably still going on today as I write this in 2025.

As a point of contrast, note the one more decorative piece I also created at that time as a gift for my host. It is deliberately illustrative featuring a starfish and conch shell. It is playful and fresh but has nothing of the breakthrough elements in the other pieces.

These loose somewhat crude explorations of landscape and abstract approaches to painting are among my most prized possessions. And continue to remind me that breakthroughs in my art are often humble in appearance and often created not by dogged schlogging it out in my dark studio, but by taking a break and going someplace different. Then, making a little effort to respond in the moment.

Pencil/paper
8.5″ x 11”
1997