Les Nitta was born in the town of Wahiawa on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.  My interest in art began while doing watercolor maps for my history classes during elementary thru high school.  While attending the University of Hawaii I became an art/painting major and graduated with a BFA in painting.  My professor John Wisnosky invited the class to his painting studio during a class excursion.  It was during this visit that I was introduced to the airbrush technique.  It was immediate enlightenment and this began my dedication to this painting medium.  The paints are acrylic fast drying paints sprayed onto the canvas with an airbrush gun.  The airbrush gun is attached to an air compressor and the pressure is regulated for different tips and spray patterns.  It is a difficult medium to manipulate as a novice.  Through the years I have become very familiar with the technical aspect of operating the airbrush and it is an pure enjoyment whenever I am spraying, like a magic wand in my hand.

     Upon graduating from UH, I used this airbrush technigue on clothing, surfboards, and murals.  I airbrushed  murals on Dodge vans and Nissan trucks,  but "whew", the lacquer paints were too hazardous to work with and I gave up doing commercial jobs and concentrated on my own art.  My subjects are the aina of Hawaii.  Florals, landscapes, skyscapes, and seascapes.  I like to work on larger canvas from 3'x3' and larger.  The airbrush technique works better on a larger scale for the process I use.  It has an ethereal atmospheric feel that I work to express thru my art.

Like anything in life doing one thing can become boring and mundane so I alternate my art between airbrushing and doing watercolors which I have always enjoyed doing.  My watercolors are mainly Koi paintings.  This gives me the feel of my ancestral roots and it is a meditative time during these painting sessions.