Amakihi in a Mamane Tree
Acrylic on Canvas
5″ X 7″
Recently our family took a summer vacation to Maui. The largest volcano, Haleakala (Meaning House of the Sun in Hawaiian), rises up above the clouds in a cone so massive and so perpetually obscured in clouds and mists that it is impossible to understand the scale of the massive volcano. On the road to the summit, there are several biomes, and one of the most exciting landscapes was right around the visitor center where the endemic Hawaiian plants are healthy and plentiful. Mamane trees flourish there, their yellow flowers gracefully curving in bunches among the lace-like leaves. The moon was rising in the sky, and out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a small green honeycreeper bird gliding from tree to tree, rapidly hopping through the branches. Most of the honeycreepers are gone from the forests of Oahu, so it’s a wonderful treat to see them on the neighbor islands in preserved wilderness and parks. I wanted to capture the moon, the mamane flowers, and the beautiful little bird all in one image.