Starting Out, Four people Under the Tree

Like my father, I am fascinated by the gigantic banyan tree in Lahaina, Maui Hawaii.

This Banyan Tree was first planted in April, 1873, and marked the 50th Anniversary of Christian missionary work in Lahaina. The tree was imported from India was only 8 feet tall. It now stands over 60 feet high, has 12 major trunks in addition to a huge core. It stretches over a 200-foot area and shades 2/3 of an acre.

In painting this scene,I have poured over the books. I have sketched and resketched. My moleskine is full of variations of the scene. The four people sitting on a park bench provides plenty of study as to painting in negative, some of the clothing on the people were white. Painting in shadow is an interesting challenge since they are every thing in the painting is  in shadow. Reduction or simplification of the image is always an issue when working with real people and real settings.

My inital response was to crop in really close to get a since of how people sit on a park bench. The photo has two women sitting next to each other on one side of the tree. The other side of the tree has two men setting on a similar park bench. A banyan tree does not have particularly dark bark. It is rather smooth bark with nicks and bruises on it. Overall the banyan bark is dark silvery grey. As a banyan tree gows out but also sends down runners from its branches that when intersecting with the ground form roots and support the side to sid movement of the tree. The part that I am painting is not the core trunk of the tree put rather a piece of it that started as s "downrigger" that formed from the branches. It is now the size of a medium trunk of a tree. Its one of the 12 major trunks of the tree. What is interesting to me is that sprouts heading off the limbs produce trunks that are out of proportion to the size of the tree. So at first when painting this tree you think that the size of the branches are wrong. Then you have to figure in the fact that this is not the central trunk.

Overall, there are plenty of benches around this tree. It takes up a whole block and it provides at least a 15 degree drop in temperature for all of those that are under its wings. That is pretty welcome in the Tropical weather that is Hawaii.