About Graham

I grew up in the shadow of one of Hawaii’s most talented plein air and studio painters, William Twigg-Smith, my grandfather. His art filled our home and the homes of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I have memories of being in the mysterious hideaway under his house where he framed and stored his art. He once stuck a nickel in my ear and pulled it out the other side. Never did figure out how he did that.

One of my aunts, my mother, one very talented niece, and several of my cousins were and are accomplished artists as well — painters, pattern designers, multi-media craftsmen, filmmakers, photographers and sculptors. My own artistic contribution as a young person was the oh-so-uninformed yearbook caricature rendering of each of my fellow students in my graduating high school class.

After graduating from college, my art was in music, where I wrote, arranged, sang and recorded feel-good songs, then called sunshine pop. I spent ten years in Southern California, reveling in a consuming love of melody and harmony.

Somewhere along the way, the written arts roared in and took over my life. I began with Blue Skin of the Sea, which I wrote to memorialize the easygoing and stunningly beautiful life and times of my teenage years in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Today, my artistic journey has brought me back to the visual arts. In oil, I paint to celebrate the multitude of emotional connections I find in the physical world around me. I also paint for the pure pleasure of the journey.

When my turn comes to head on off to the next world, I plan to reach out and shake hands with God. “Thank you,” I will say. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”