A Favorite Place

Boats in Lahaina Harbor

Every artist has a certain place that inspires them to paint. For some it's a view out their window or a pond nearby. For me it's four boats in Lahaina on the island of Maui.
A few years ago someone sent me a photo of these four boats docked in the Lahaina Harbor. I subsequently used the photo for a painting of the four boats. I used it again for a painting of two boats. Then I used it for a painting of three boats. Then I took out boats, added boats, changed the time of day and just kept on painting. Needles to say, these boats have been a HUGE inspiration for many of my boat paintings.
So today we were driving along the harbor in Lahaina and I was causally looking for "my boats". And sure enough ... there they were. I felt a little bit like the girl in "Miracle on 34th Street" when at the end of the movie she sees her "dream house" while in the car and yells "Stop!, Stop! There it is!".  Fortunately my clients could sense my excitement (and I actually probably did yell "stop, there it is!") so I hopped out of the car to take a few of my very own photos of my very favorite boats.
It was quite a day ...