Sundae Schor is passionate. Passionate about the ocean. Passionate about Hawai‘i. Passionate about her paintings.

"I am an Impassionist!" exclaims the artist. "If I had to label my artistic style it would be called ‘Impassionism,’ because my main goal is to deeply move the viewer. I want to show the viewer what I am really seeing and feeling. I want to say, ‘Look at these colors! Taste the salt in the water! Feel the sun on your skin!’"

Schor began painting Hawaiian scenes four years ago after her manager, who was originally her patron, saw a few of her Hawai‘i paintings and demanded that she paint nothing else. Her manager felt so strongly in fact that she made Schor sign a contract that she would paint nothing but landscapes of Hawai‘i. Hence a career was born.

Schor paints with acrylics because they allow her to move as fast as the ideas that flow within her. Much of her painting is completed at night, when visions of visited locations spring to her memory. She notes that she is often awakened by a vivid dream that she must put on canvas and then she paints it immediately. "I could never paint the way I do with oils," Schor notes. "It takes too long for oils to dry. With acrylics I can paint one area; it dries and I can paint over it again quickly to capture the look I want.

"My paintings are ideas or daydreams," she continues. "Dreams of places I would rather be—places I’ve been. Places I’d like others to see. Snapshots embedded into my mind’s eye only, to be developed onto canvas to share with anyone willing to follow me into the daydream."

Schor admits that many of her paintings are works of imagination rather than actual locations. "My images start with an idea, not a specific location. I let the paint tell me what to do next. I am not real specific about what the finished image will be." She explains: "As I begin to paint, I will start with one image in mind, but as I work, I will be reminded of another sunset or event that I experienced and I incorporate that into the painting. My paintings are a combination of memory and some imagination of what I wish it would look like."

While not painting specific locations, Schor does use a good deal of reference material for her work. Having explored photography for many years, she has a large collection of images to reference, and much of the time she will paint while watching a DVD of Hawai‘i.

"I research the botany and look at pictures to get the specifics of the trees and flora. I enjoy the science of it," exudes Schor.

A technique that has become something of an accidental staple of Schor’s work is the use of multiple layers of paint, built up to create unique colors. In the early days of her career, when money was tight, Schor grew into the habit of painting very thin layers on the canvas so as to conserve paint. "When I started doing better financially, I was still using layers—much like the old masters," she explains.

Now Schor builds deep layers of acrylics, creating a wonderful spectrum of colors that those photographing her paintings say they have a difficult time capturing accurately. "Thin layers of acrylic are transparent and the more you build that up, the more you build the colors up and create new colors," Schor explains.

Growing up in California, Schor was an avid surfer. She spent her youth surfing the California shores, from Oceanside to Rincon. Her mother Mauna was given a Hawaiian name by Sundae’s grandmother because of her grandmother’s deep love for the Islands. Mauna inspired both Sundae and her brother John Alfred Dorn III to pursue the arts. (Dorn became a popular illustrator whose work appeared regularly in The New York Magazine and Family Circle.)

Schor took a rather circuitous route both to the fine arts and to Hawai‘i itself. She began as a commercial artist in Long Beach, California. Later she moved to Sacramento, where she continued her education as a graphic artist by learning all phases of the printing business. As Schor notes, this was "old school" graphics art, before the advent of personal computers.

Eventually she moved to Chicago and opened her own graphics design company, creating greeting cards, booklets, flyers, and corporate logos. All the while, Schor continued to experiment with fine art painting, mostly exploring the use of oils.

After visiting Hawai‘i for the first time in the ‘60s, Schor continued to visit once a year. Now the artist, who owns a condo on O‘ahu, visits every few months and plans to make the Islands her home very soon. "I have been a surfer my whole life," Schor says. "Most of the people I knew moved to Hawai‘i so I naturally wanted to check it out. Once I arrived I had to paint it."

Schor’s next artistic step will be to attempt larger canvases. In the future she plans on creating images that are 40x80 inches or 60x60, double the size she is currently painting. But her passion for Hawai‘i’s magnificent vistas couldn’t grow any larger. For Sundae Schor, the artist’s way remains an ongoing journey of the imagination.

Schor’s work can be seen on-line at www.hawaiiart.com and www.globalartconnection.com.