Aloha, everyone! Before I begin, I simply wanted to say, “Mahalo!” for checking out my website. If my paintings put a smile on your face or added a bit of happiness in your day, I can genuinely say that’s the biggest reward I could possibly ask for.

     As someone who was born in the beautiful beach town of Santa Cruz, California, I have always been drawn to warm days on the beach with big blue waves and even bigger blue skies. It was so much fun being a kid in a great surf town! In elementary school, my family packed up and moved to the Big Island of Hawaii. Being around so much beauty at such a young age is something that I will forever have endless awe and gratitude for. It truly was Heaven on Earth, and quite honestly the biggest inspiration for me to pursue a career that both honors my past and the culture I was blessed to have been raised within. For that, I owe my mom and dad a huge “Thank you.”

     Before fully pursuing tropical art and portraiture, my first career took me to the film and television industry where I worked as a makeup artist for more than 20 years. Between film sets, I had the honor of traveling the country as a guest artist for companies such as Chanel, Lancôme, Borgehse, Alexandra de Markoff, and Shiseido.

     After getting married to my husband and taking a slight step away from makeup in order to raise our two children, I felt a deep yearning to continue creating art — but this time in a way that would last more than a few hours. Makeup is really fun, but the one inevitability is that no matter how good it is, it always gets washed off at the end of the day!

     I searched my heart for the things that I loved, and as you probably guessed… I discovered oil painting! I felt so inspired to paint, and I’m so thankful that I followed that little voice in my head, which was telling me to go for it! With the support from my friends and family, I began painting everything I could think of in hopes to find the direction I felt my career should go! I painted sandy beaches, tropical flowers, Hawaiian fruit trees, beautiful hula dancers, the list goes on and on! 

     Before long, I no longer felt as though I needed to “figure out” what type of painting career I wanted to have, because it was already unfolding naturally before my eyes! Simply put, I loved painting things that made me think of home. For me, there is a spirit of sweetness that accompanies the warm and fragrant island breezes and the salty air of a cute beach town, and it’s my heart's desire to share my love for these places and their people through my work.

Mahalo nui loa,
Louanne