The Blue Sea Artisans featured artist for the month of May is multi-media artist Mark Martel.
Martel has called Captain Cook home since 2013. He and his wife Kate moved from Ohio after falling in love with the Big Island. He revels in diverse materials, styles and subjects. Working in watercolor, acrylic, oil, gouache, pastel and all sorts of drawing media, he ranges between landscape, wildlife, figures and historical scenes.
This month Mark premieres an ambitious oil that recalls pioneer illustrator Howard Pyle and fantasy master Frank Frazetta. In the late 1800s Pyle crafted a classic view of a Spanish Galleon. Countless later artists “drew” heavily from that work, including Frazetta—twice. Mark’s version features the iconic Hokulea. Check out our front window display for the result.
The latest in his mixed-media series of native wildlife features the pueo, or Hawaiian short-eared owl, set against the vast Mauna Kea. Meanwhile in Mark’s ‘Masters’ series he’s emulated the work of famous illustrators, but in a Hawaiian setting. Maxfield Parrish gets the treatment in Daybreak ~ Kona. In progress is a scene of the Painted Church a la Van Gogh.
Mark loves commissions. A recent portrait of Dave and Trudy Bateman was presented to them by their staff at Heavenly Hawaiian Coffee Farm.
One scary new project in 2022 was to repair a fifty-year-old oil painting for neighbors Davy and Michelle Kenney. How was it made? Was it valuable? The worries lessened some when Mark tracked down the original artist and received his guidance and blessing.
The most popular of Martel’s original works become cards, prints and giclées. You can find them all at the gallery, where every Thursday Mark works the mid-day shift from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Stop in and talk story.
The Blue Sea Artisans Gallery, located in the Keauhou Shopping Center, is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, call (808) 329-8000.