Drawings from Maui

Mixed media illustrations from my sketchbook

At the end of August we went on a wonderful trip to Maui.

It’s a really beautiful island with golden beaches, turquoise ocean with curling waves, dramatic lava cliffs and lush green interior heading up to the volcano. The real highlight, though, was the marine wildlife. We had an amazing time snorkeling off the beaches close to our accommodation, where we saw turtles, rays, and hundreds of fish. On a boat trip we took, we were also lucky enough to see a huge pod of spinner dolphins, a reef shark and my son saw an octopus!

I took my sketchbook, watercolour paints and some coloured pencils along to most places, and really enjoyed drawing some of the beautiful places we saw, and some huge sleepy turtles on the beach.

Some really magical looking trees. The first one reminded me of the tree in the 2nd avatar movie with all the strands hanging down amongst the branches. The colours were so vibrant, walking along the trail through the trees was otherworldly.

Maui sketchbooking

Since we’ve been back, the underwater experiences I had have inspired some new illustrations too….

My middle son loved the turtles. They really did swim so close, and didn’t seem bothered by us being there at all, they just kept on going about their business eating snacks from the coral.

This one is inspired by my daughter whilst out snorkeling. She was really good at capturing underwater photos and videos on her Go Pro camera. I mixed this photo of her with a different shoal of fish we saw.

I’m sure this amazing trip will continue to inspire more underwater artwork.

I’d love to hear about any amazing trips you’ve been on and the wildlife you saw? I can add your suggestions to my ‘dream places to go’ list.

Thanks so much for reading ,

Bye for now

Sarah x

Where you can find me:

• Instagram - (at) sarahlovellart

• My website - www.sarahlovellart.co.uk

• Blue sky - (at) sarahlovellart.bsky.social