Featured Artists: Peter Jefferson & Bill Doar
Featured Cover Artist: Peter Jefferson
Our January-February cover artist, Peter Jefferson says, “Winter months on Hawai‘i Island are truly special. Year after year, it is amazing looking mauka and seeing the snow sitting atop Maunakea, then looking makai, watching the whales breaching and frolicking along our shores. We live in paradise! I love capturing these scenes and sharing them through my art.”
While the Kohala winds limit the size of Peter’s canvases, painting on his lānai (porch) allows him to work quite large. “I love my studio! Much of my commission work is done large so I can still paint outside in a protected space.”
Peter, as a Plein Air Artist, directs the Kohala Plein Air Group on Hawai‘i Island. ‘En plein air’ translates from the French as outdoors, and identifies an art movement that came about in the mid-19th century when natural lighting and painting in fresh air was favored over that of studio work. Kohala Plein Air is one of three large Plein Air groups here on the island. (Hilo’s group is led by Leslie Sears and Kona’s is led by Richard Rochkowski).
Peter began drawing as an engineer in Boston. He received a Master of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University and that’s where he began painting watercolors and life drawing. Peter’s art studies flourished at the DeCordova Museum School.
His studies continued with oil painters Ovanes Berberian and Brigette Curt. The use of juicy colors and painting with bold strokes, no dabbing, are emphasized in their work, and that’s evident in Peter’s art.
Peter exclaims, “I always try to have fun painting! Sir Issac Newton once said ‘Live life as an exclamation, not an explanation’. I try to approach my painting the same way! My watercolor techniques include very drippy flowing paint (wet on wet). This technique works perfectly to set up my ‘under’ paintings in my oils. It’s good, colorful, and messy fun.”
Peter enjoys working with charitable groups on Hawai‘i Island. In 2015, he had the honor of organizing a successful Plein Air show at the Kahilu Theatre to help support the arts. Their goal was to mix different art disciplines and the Kahilu was perfect for displaying their artwork. Patrons were able to view the artwork prior to and during intermission at many performances. They also had demonstrations. Peter says, “This was a fun, interactive show that included artists from around the island to help raise money for the theatre in sales and donations.”
While most of Peter’s work is landscapes, he does love figurative work and painting hula and geisha figures. As a colorist, he is drawn to these subjects. He enjoys the energy and movement of hula. He had a show in Hawi entitled Anticipation that featured dancers from the Beamer-Soloman Hālau. Three of his hula paintings are featured in HGTV program Building Hawaii (episode seven). Japanese Geishas and Maiko arrayed in their beautiful kimonos and whitened faces with traditional hairstyles offer stunning colors for the viewer. The watercolor painting entitled Geisha won an award at the Helen Cassidy Show held annually in Waimea.
Peter’s work can be viewed at the Third Dimension Gallery at the Shops at Mauna Lani, The Gallery of All Great Things in Waimea, and Plantation Interiors in Kona. Peter was the only Hawai‘i artist to be invited to the 13th Annual Sedona Plein Air Festival.
For more information, contact: Peterjeffersonfinearts.com
Table Of Contents Artist: Bill Doar
When “shooting,” Bill Doar prefers to use his camera. Growing up in Honolulu, Bill’s interest in photography began in grade school when his mother, a local girl from Pearl City, and father, an Army sergeant from Brooklyn, gave him a Brownie box camera. Years later, at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, he took his first of several photography classes. After college, while serving in the U.S. Navy in the Philippines, he bought his first 35mm camera. Since then, Bill has concentrated on nature photography, especially in Hawai‘i. He enjoys “shooting” flowers, native birds, bugs, lava, ocean, landscapes, and other subjects.
For more information, contact: billjulie@hawaiiantel.net
