ʻAlenuihāhā

84in x 42in- Acrylic on Canvas

Between Maui and the Big Island there is a stretch of water the old Hawaiians named ʻAlenuihāhā: great billows smashing. They weren’t being poetic. They were filing a report.

Most afternoons the trades pour around Haleakalā and down off Kohala. Mauna Kea squeezes them hard enough that the wind has nowhere to go but straight across the channel at thirty, forty, fifty knots. The sea stands up. Swells come in from three directions at once, none of them interested in your plans. Six thousand feet down, the water is black and quiet. On top it’s a bar fight.

This painting is that bar fight seen from above. At seven feet tall and built up layer by layer with a palette knife, the canvas is cut by long diagonal seams of white, the lines where whitecaps tear loose and streak downwind. Rust bleeds along their edges like red Kohala dirt after a hard rain, or the iron in old lava. Between the seams the water runs from cobalt to turquoise to the deep-water green you only see on clear days, with sparks of chartreuse and a stray flash of pink, the half-second of color you get when spray catches the sun from behind.

Nothing sits still. The whole surface leans like a hull heeled over in a gust, and the texture keeps shifting as you walk past it, the way the channel never shows you the same face twice.

Anyone who has crossed it by canoe, by boat, or white-knuckled in a twin-prop knows the ʻAlenuihāhā doesn’t care about you. That’s the gift. It may be one of the last honest places left.

Each piece of art is hand made, one of a kind and truly original.

The art piece is delivered unframed. Please note that the color may vary slightly depending on your monitor settings and neither the frame nor mount are included in the sale.

Shipping is additional for this piece given the size. It will be negotiated after purchase dependent on location.

Please drop us a message if you have any questions, happy shopping!