In Hawaii, the proper greeting includes a Hawaiian lei. The Lei Shack-Yellow makes sure you have ample options for your visitors. The little birdies above are thinking about flying down and frolicking in the fragrant flowers, but they see the kitty guard. Although kitty looks like she's asleep, you never know when she'll wake up and want to play. I think it best to enjoy the day from atop the Lei Shack sign...

The water is perfectly still in this painting. There's nothing you can do but pull up your beach chair and dip your toes in the water! I can't think of nothing more wonderful than getting warmed by the sun and cooled by the water on a beach of fine grained sand. With no one blocking your view or crowding your space, this is the place for me!

Lei Shacks are my favorite! This little house is has everything it needs to run a successful lei-making business. With the beach behind and a flowering tree beside it, all you need is a lei around your neck to know you have landed in paradise. And as a bonus, you can give the sleeping kitty a backscratching to pay forward the sensation of relaxation:)

I was in Maui visiting with my family recently and we mostly played on the beach and ate lots of yummy food. But on the way through Lahaina, we decided to start from the beginning of Front Street and drive through the residential area so I could get some more ideas for Hawaiian style old timey houses. One house in particular that I saw was blue with yellow trim and the garage doors had this cool half sun design. So I used that in my house for "Beachfront" and I think I will have to use it again because I love it! For "Beachfront", I wanted to have a super ultra-relaxed feeling to the painting. The water is calm, our kitty is peacefully sleeping on the front lanai, and the outrigger canoe looks like it has been waiting there for someone to take out for a while now. There's no rush today, it's a good day to kick back and let the breeze take you where it may!

I started this painting with the full intent of having a red tree in it. That's all I really cared about when I started drawing this one out. Then I added in the color design for the old Hawaiian plantation style house and our weather-worn surfboards on the side. I love how relaxing "Relaxing" came out:) I just want to cradle myself on into that hammock and take a breezy afternoon nap with the sound of waves rocking my cares away.

I love me some shave ice! Apparently little yellow birds love it as well. The two sitting atop this colorful shack are waiting for the tuxedo kitty to fully fall asleep before attempting to play out their cool down caper. In the meantime, they can decide on which flavors to savor. Any combination will be a good one for this hot afternoon, whew!

This is the ultimate resting place on the beach. Shade from the palms, a place to rest your boards and the perfect hammock to stretch out and take an afternoon snooze. Today looks like it's more of a calm, light and breezy day than an epic waves day, so my little yellow birds are more interested in the hammock. It's a good day to be a beach bum!

I created a close-up painting with this concept a month or so ago, so today I decided to pan out and show the whole house!
Since they are selling primarily plumeria leis, I figured they had to have a local source. Low and behold, the Lei Shack has it's own plumeria tree growing along the side of the shack. Now that's what I call Locally Grown!

Shave Ice is big in Hawaii. It's cool, sweet and mighty tasty on a hot Hawaiian day. Every time I go to Hale'iwa, I gotta get me a shave ice. My little yellow birds are trying to figure out how to get past the slumbering cat and acquire a few for themselves...

Here's some tips when going for Shave Ice:

1. call it Shave Ice, no "d" at the end of "shave" and not known as snow cones over here

2. get it with vanilla ice cream AND azuki beans on the bottom, trust me it's delicious!

3. eat quickly unless you want shave ice soup!

4. enjoy!!!