Pua fiti e lua | Melia ʻelua (two plumeria) by Jon Apisa

Pua fiti e lua | Melia ʻelua (two plumeria) watercolor mini painting

Jon Apisa. Pua fiti e lua | Melia ʻelua (two plumeria). 2025. watercolor on paper, 7" x 5" (17.78cm x 12.7cm).

Artist Notes:

Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi September 17, 2025

“Pua fiti e lua | Melia ʻelua” (two plumeria) watercolor painting was based on a moment experienced rather than a direct representation.

There are some moments that are challenging to explain with words and may be better expressed with art. Maybe it's because such moments evoke both thought and feeling into an experience.

This piece is one of my expressive compositions, created using metaphor with the intent to communicate and express the thoughts and the feeling experienced during a peaceful moment.

Viewing my previous plumeria, the subject and final aesthetic are similar that art created for representation. This however, I created with a specific intent to reflect on and communicate a peaceful moment with the use of the composition and subject as metaphor.

I had first painted a single plumeria flower en plein air with gouache as a sketchbook painting and again painted this as a single flower with watercolor as a mini painting

When painted as a single flower the artwork was meant to be share a representation of the flower as I had observed in person growing on the island of Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi.

Although the same reference was used, the composition changed because this piece was created with a specific intent.

Instead of an artistic representation of the flower observed, this composition is a metaphor. While the reference was the same, this composition with two flowers is meant to be an artistic expression of a moment experienced.

- Jon Apisa

I chose to title the artwork “Pua fiti e lua | Melia ʻelua” (two plumeria) with the general name for two plumeria in Gagana Sāmoa (Sāmoan language) and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiʻian language).

I choose to title artwork in both languages because of my Sāmoan family heritage, also because I was raised in Hawaiʻi and lived in Hawaiʻi when I created the artwork.

“Pua fiti e lua | Melia ʻelua” (two plumeria) watercolor painting by Jon Apisa.

This was painted with watercolor on paper, 7" x 5" (17.78cm x 12.7cm).

“Plumeria” is: