BLACK PEARL FARM TOUR GUIDE, watercolor on Arches

BLACK  PEARL FARM TOUR GUIDE, 10x7.5" watercolor on Arches paper.

Painted aboard the Crown Princess cruise-ship during my trip to the South Pacific last month. Beautiful country, beautiful and kind people. The way they grow the black pearls is amazing. They insert a tiny pebble, almost a grain of sand in the oyster, and wait 7 years to have a cultivated black pearl! The same oyster can have this procedure done three times in its life, before it dies.

PACIFIC SUNRISE, watercolor on Arches paper

PACIFIC SUNRISE, 7.5x10" watercolor on Arches paper, painted aboard Crown Princess, cruising the Pacific toward Hawaii, Samoa and Tahiti, three weeks ago.

On our way from Los Angeles to Hawaii, we were sailing west, then south to Samoa, then east from Samoa to Tahiti, and finally north-east from Tahiti back to Los Angeles. It was confusing at first, due to my ignorance of the exact location of the South Pacific islands. So we bought an inflatable globe, to be able to follow our own ocean path with the globe in our hands. The first few weeks I got up very early to enjoy the Pacific sunrise from the ship. Then I got lazy and just enjoyed the sunset, ha ha!

Nick Kolesnikow, painter, ink and watercolor sketch

NICK KOLESNIKOW, PAINTER, ink and watercolor sketch , 7x7 ".

My friend Nick and I painted often aboard Crown Princess cruiseship, in our recent trip to Hawaii, Samoa, and the Tahiti islands in the South Pacific. I kept a sketchbook of activities, views, lectures, visits, and books read during the voyage;  nothing escapes my pen and watercolor brushes! If you stand still for a few minutes, I get you!!!!

ALONG THE ROADS OF FRANCE, watercolor

Along the Roads of France, 4x6 watercolor, framed, in exhibition at La Jolla Art Gallery, La Jolla, California. Artists Reception on Saturday, November 16, 5-7pm. Hope to see you there!

While I was in Paris a couple of weeks ago, I visited one of my favorite museums: Musée du Quai Branly, and saw the KANAK exhibition. The Kanak culture is based on oral language. Their myths evoke the times when the Word was able to create. To give a name to something was to give it life. It is a fantastic exhibition, I strongly recommend to visit it with plenty of time to read and absorb the spirituality of the Kanak culture. Their people live in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific.