Anita Marci's "Celebration Integration" Painting

Happy Fourth of July to all!! This has always been a favorite holiday of mine as it marks the real kick off of the summer...so when I was asked by my friends/clients of mine to create a poster for the Lahaina Fireworks I was excited by the prospect.  This painting titled "Celebration Integration" is the result.

I had recently been back east to NYC to the Whitney Museum where I saw Jasper John's "Three Flags" painting. Here he stacks three rectangular canvases of the American Flag. I liked the idea of dimension so I did this with a painted drop shadow. Here in Hawaii we sometimes feel separate because we are not contiguous. My intention for this piece was to unify the two flags and show our state symbolically as a floating flag/island. I was very excited about the piece.

I proceeded with the poster design with the help of my very talented friend Rachel Mallon of Ironwood Design Studio, and we created a beautiful poster for the fireworks. However, when the Maui Chamber of Commerce saw it they became concerned about creating discord among the native Hawaiians here. There is a feeling of not wanting to be a part of the USA by some people. Well, my poster never saw the light of day, but most everyone who has seen the painting has had a favorable reaction.

So here is my controversial painting. It was not my intention to offend anyone. I must say though that I feel a good piece of art should evoke emotion of some kind. So I guess I did my job too well.....this painting is available for purchase in this our 50th anniversary year of statehood.

Anita Marci's "Pohaku Hana" Paintings

These paintings were created from my photos of rocks that I took on a brief trip to Hana- which is on the east coast of Maui. It rains there all the time so being able to shoot a photo is a luxury! I was intrigued by the shapes of the rocks but the lack of color left me flat. I looked to Wolf Kahn who is one of my favorite colorists for some color direction. I like to explore color passages that are in his paintings.

The art is small- only 8" x 10" but I enjoy the feeling of tranquility that I get from them. They were fun to paint and I was surprised and pleased with the outcome. They are available for purchase for a mere $300 each- a steal for an original acrylic on canvas. Let me know if you are interested.

Anita Marci's "Manhattan to Maui Book" A Book of Poetry Paintings

Accessing Creativity

Whatever beauty you're drawn to-
Express it.
Whatever way you want to show your body-
Dress it.
Breathe deep and just let go.
Your world of creativity is ready to show.

Inspiration is the key.
Expression is the door.
You have only to walk through
To a new world and explore.

I am about to take a leap of faith and publish parts of my book entitled "Manhattan to Maui." It is a book about transition and healing, about closing old doors and opening new ones.

I moved to Maui six years ago January 3, 2003. At the time I was married and had a very big life in New York. I was not happy and knew that my light was going out, so when I got to Maui and felt her beautiful energy I knew that I had found my new home. It is never easy to make changes- especially when you change everything. Perhaps if I had known how difficult it would be, I may not have done it. Having come out the other side, I am very grateful that I did. I have never been happier or more complete in my life.

I had never really written poetry and I wasn't sure where the poems came from but at the time I was in too much confusion to paint, so the poetry served as my release or "creative dump" as I am fond of calling these expressions. As an artist, creative energy builds up inside and must be released or - well I don't know- perhaps spontaneous combustion or something like that.

The poems came first and then the watercolor paintings. This book is about letting go of pain in a healthy way. It is about healing yourself through creativity. I harbor the dream of someday publishing the whole book -perhaps in e-form or maybe the traditional way.

I wish to share and as always to inspire.....

Anita Marci's "Banana Baby"- Acrylic Painting

This painting is called "Banana Baby." It is rather large: 2 1/2' x 4 1/2'. It was done for Chris Berman-the ESPN Sports Commentator and his wife Kathy. They wanted to bring up the marble colors because this stone is fabulous. The colors are rich and deep and I wanted to capture that depth in the painting. They selected the exact colors for the piece.

One Sunday morning I awoke to find the sun shining just perfectly on this newly born banana leaf. I ran to get my camera and captured it as you see it above. This provided me with my creative inspiration. I then proceeded to take many more photos, but the first one is the one that I used. That is often the case. I will take a shot and enjoy it and then feel the need to explore the thought. I have many more pics so there may be more banana leaves in my future.

The painting took much longer than I expected because of the detail in the line work. I wanted the focus to be on the baby leaf itself instead of the larger leaf behind it. The background color was challenging as well. It has every color in the pallette and was a very tricky mix. I think there are about five layers of different reds in that background.

The beauty of custom art is that you get exactly what you want without having to go shopping. This art works with the window trim and wall covering as well. Finally, I was satisfied with the piece and so were my clients.

Anita Marci's Alphabet Art- Acrylic Paintings

This art is brand new and I call it Alphabet Art.
It was inspired by something called Illumination.

This was popular a very long time ago and was used on hand written manuscripts. It was usually at the beginning of a book, chapter, or letter. The initial cap was "illuminated" with decoration often consisting of geometric shapes, flourishes or perhaps even a flower.

I wanted to do a modern day take on this concept. I decided to create these paintings on small 4"x 4" x 1.5" canvases. I chose to make these for my four most cherished friends as Christmas Gifts. I began with the first letter of each of their names. Next I pondered their personal characteristics and who they are to me.

P for Peggy came first, she is a wonderful southern belle, charming, elegant and gracious and one of the best story tellers I know. She is extremely generous and as beautiful inside as she is outside. Peggy loves white flowers so I incorporated a white iris in her painting. We both love purple so lavender was an obvious color choice.

F for Fran came next. She is spunky and funny, loving and kind and very supportive. Fran and I love to spend the whole day at the beach gabbing our heads off. So I pained a stylistic beach for Fran.

C for Carolyn followed. She is wise and also very beautiful inside and out. Carolyn is a communication specialist and her thing is coming to clarity. Also, she is warm and bright like the sun so I chose to use this as a symbol of the light that she brings to all the people she touches.

R for Rachel was my fourth one. She loves green so that is her color. Rachel is a very talented designer whom I met when she did my web site. She likes to draw out her ideas and then adds color to them on the computer, so I gave Rachel a pencil and teardrops of the three primary colors from which all colors are made.

I had so much fun doing these and the paintings were received with much enthusiasm. I would love to do some more so if anyone is interested in commissioning one please let me know.

That's it for now. I am currently contemplating my next paintings and I believe they will be lava rocks inspired by my photos from a recent trip to Hana, Hawaii.....

Anita Marci's "R and R's Red Bananas" Painting

This blog will be devoted to sharing my personal thoughts, feelings and process in the creation of my art work.

People often ask me how I decide on what to paint. I will say that creative inspiration can come in many forms: a color, a texture, a photo, a single croton leaf, or even another work of art. I live on the beach in West Maui and the property is full of lush colorful tropical foliage so there is an ever changing vast array of constant inspiration.

The paintings above were inspired by my personal relationship with a Red Banana Tree. This tree grew right next to the front door of my condo. I looked at this tree every day for nearly five years. I did not know it was a red banana until recently when the bananas came. I saw the banana stem which I call the donger. I was excited, but sad, because all banana trees are cut down after they bear fruit. It was so beautiful with it's tiny yellow fringe over the purple bottom. I knew I had to paint it. I took the photos and waited patiently for months, watching every day as the bananas grew.

Finally the fruit ripened and the rich red browns and olive greens once again made me want to paint. I took some more photos and decided I wanted to tell a story about this tree- a portrait if you will. I photographed the tree itself with it's rich red bark and was also moved by the top of the tree where the leaves fan out.

I painted these as a Triptych with matching backgrounds and a consistent color scheme. These three paintings were created especially for Rachel and Ryan as their wedding present, so I matched Rachel's pillow colors and wall color swatch.
She loves green, so I focused on a bright yellow green that she is especially fond of. This became the unifying color in all three paintings. The blue gray background and side panel color was painted last on all three pieces.

Rachel and Ryan are a really cool couple and it is my pleasure to honor them with these paintings and my appreciation of the beauty of this tree. I wish them a very happy and successful marriage.