The Island Troubadour (Hohaia)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 acrylic 2020

Luman Hohaia is an extremely soft-spoken man who comes alive when he entertains with the Pacific Island songs that he loves so much. Suddenly his voice is loud and strong – it’s quite amazing. He sings in English and Polynesian. This portrait was my gift to him for all he has done for others. “Why would you want to paint me? I’m not very handsome,” he said. I replied, “Well, I don’t know about that.  But you have an interesting face, and I would like to paint it.  Come on over with a Hawaiian shirt.”  He arrived with a crazy, complicated shirt (be careful what you ask for!) and his ukulele. His neck wrinkles, Hawaiian shirt, and laie were new challenges. When he picked up the painting, he was very excited and insisted on paying $100 for it and $40 more for the frame.  He worried that $140 wasn’t enough and, compared to the $12,600 that John Horejs, my friend in Phoenix is asking for his latest landscape, it wasn’t much.  However, Godfrey had expected to paint Luman for fun and for free. However, with the costs associated with painting, he finally accepted the money.

Here are some stages in the progress of the painting: