Bringing Hawai‘iʻs Scenery Indoors: Plein Air Painter Sita Soesman Finds Joy in Landscapes

By Margaret Kearns

Long-time Hawai‘i Island resident and O‘ahu native Sita Soesman is a rare talent—one of those fortunate individuals gifted equally with excellent business, marketing and sales skills, and amazing artistic talent. Mix all of that with unbridled enthusiasm, boundless energy and an uninhibited joy for life, and you have a 34-year-old woman destined for even more success than already accumulated over the past three decades.

“I feel blessed to have been born and raised in these beautiful Hawaiian Islands and I honestly cannot remember a time when I wasn’t attempting to capture the essence of Hawai‘i – early on with crayons and pencils on any scrap of paper I could find and moving on eventually to paint on canvas,” Soesman says.

She adds that she has a precise memory of when she first realized she could make a living doing something she absolutely loves.

“As a kid I guess I was already somewhat of an entrepreneur! The most fun I could have after school and on weekends was organizing drawing and painting workshops with groups of my friends and then displaying the work “for sale” to family and friends in exchange for make-believe money – of course we cut out and drew the currency, too!”

Competition fueled her passion as well, and she freely admits to the satisfaction she felt in out-selling playmates. But at the heart of her passion for painting is her love of the islands and her desire to be out in nature as much as possible. Her favorite “studio”, in fact, is the beach, her favorite medium is oils and her favorite method of creation is plein air.

“I’m confounded by the fact that plein air painting isn’t more popular, more common these days especially in environments as comfortable and beautiful as Hawai‘i. It’s more typical to find artists creating their work in studio from digital images taken of their preferred subject matter,” she says.

And what of Soesman’s preferred objects? She says from the very beginning she has chosen subjects—most often her signature sea and landscapes (the inspiration behind her business name “SitaScapes”)—that “make me feel good, those beautiful places and things I want to share with others.”

There was a brief period when Soesman did lay down her brushes, however, in exchange for calculators, computers and textbooks. Letting her analytical and more practical side take over, she made the decision to pursue business and marketing studies at university rather than fine arts. Now with an MBA and several years’ experience as a real estate sales assistant for a Hawai‘i Island developer, she is back to her art with a renewed passion.

Perfectly positioned to meet and work with clients who have recently purchased new homes here, clients who are looking for fine island art to adorn the walls, Soesman enjoys providing some art consultation along with her sales services. Most recently, interior designers contracted to furnish model homes in luxury residential communities have discovered her work, taking her expertise to another level.

“Late last year I was commissioned by a designer working on a very tight schedule to complete a model. And for the first time, I was tasked with working with very specific color palettes and themes to complete his vision for the space,” she says. “Until then I had always simply played with the colors I love, selecting subjects I love to paint. Coupled with the three week deadline for two massive paintings it was a great challenge and learning experience for me!”

It’s also a challenge that has opened another door for the exhibition of her work, something she is still a bit amazed about.

“When I started painting again, it was really something I did for myself. It was like sort of re-discovering a friend that had been such a big part of my life early on, of something I had loved so much for so long. It took me quite a long time—with much encouragement and support from family, friends and established artists, to actually show my work, let alone put a price tag on it!”

As with many local artists starting out, Soesman started with a small booth and “studio space” at island arts and crafts shows and slowly gained the confidence to approach local restaurants and businesses about hanging her work. Borders in Kailua-Kona (closed earlier this year) was the first to give her that opportunity and featured her work in a month-long, one-woman show in 2009.

That show, she says, was really the catalyst for realizing that art as full-time career was still a distinct possibility for her sometime in the future—a possibility that was bolstered when she landed an exclusive with Kohala Coast Fine Art at Waikoloa Beach Resort’s Kings’ Shops shortly after her month-long show at Borders.

For now, though, Soesman makes the most of her time away from the sales office to grow her portfolio and to expand her techniques through participation in hands-on workshops in the islands. Most recently, for example, looking to add more paint, texture and depth to her canvases, she completed a class that focused on perfecting the use of a palette knife, rather than relying solely on the use of paintbrushes in her work. One of the most enlightening—and unusual—sessions, however, was a workshop with island artist and long-time friend Lori Hight, one Soesman refers to as a lesson in “topsy-turvy” style.

“Each of Lori’s bi-weekly lessons is held inside her studio and are targeted to a very specific skill. During this particular session our assignment was to create a painting upside down, a method intended to shift our focus from painting a subject to simply working freely with the inter-relationship of shapes, lighting, colors and shadows,” she says.

And, according to Soesman, it worked. “I had always struggled with painting believable mountains; the complexity of colors, shading and shadows confused me. By painting the scene upside down, it tricked my brain to stop worrying about ‘painting a mountain’ and rather simply to paint colors and shadows. When I turned the painting right-side up, there it was – a nearly perfect rendition of a Napo‘opo‘o hillside!”

As much as she appreciates the in-studio classes, her first love remains working outside in the tropical environment she treasures. Sadly, one of her favorite places to set up easel and stool—Kona Village Resort—is no longer accessible, having closed indefinitely following the damaging tsunami that hit the Kona coast in March of this year.

“My heart sank when I first heard about the extensive damage to Kona Village. Later, when I learned it would close with no immediate plan for the re-opening, my heart broke,” she says. “For me and so many others, this was a very special place with intense mana (power) providing a strong connection to the ‘aina (land), to the kai (ocean) and to complete serenity.”

Always the optimist, forever maintaining her cheerful demeanor, Soesman adds, “I have no doubt, though, that despite the damage, the land retains its unique power, charm and calming influence and all of it will be there when the area is open to all of us again.” ❖

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For more information, visit on line at www.SitaScapes.com or SistaScapes@gmail.com and 808.443.8898.

Contact writer Margaret Kearns at Margaretekearns@gmail.com.