Make A Joyful Noise - Finish Part 1, Start Part 2

This is it…finally finished (with minor adjustments after it dries). If you recall back in my blog post of June 13, 2009, I gave the history of this piece. I witnessed this powerful event in 1992 and decided that someday I would attempt to paint it. I did a piece from memory last year and titled it “Reconciliation;” it did not reflect, for me, what I had in mind. It did; however, serve the purpose of conveying the message that Hawaiians turned from their gods and goddess of old to accept the one Christian God. I stumbled on the negatives of the photos, which I couldn’t believe I still had, developed them to be used as reference…coming up with what you see above.

“Reconciliation”

18x24 oil on stretched canvas
Available for sale

Now, moving on to part 2 of this diptych…here is the start.


That day on the rim of Halema’uma’u there were about 30 dancers, so you can just imagine the power that emanated from the chanters and dancers …SPECTACULAR. These three dancers symbolize those 30 dancers. The pose is in praise of the Almighty, their features are of myself and my sisters. In searching photos for features for the dancers, I thought why not use our features…we were, after all, hula dancers from the time we were kids into adulthood. Using our features, I thought, would make it extra special…a family heirloom…maybe!!

A little story behind that… growing up, it was expected that young Hawaiian girls learn to dance the hula. My Auntie Hilda was recruited for that job and was a tough taskmaster. There were five of us…four girls and one boy. The boy was the youngest (poor kid) and I was the youngest of the four girls. My older sisters were ruthless and harassed me constantly about my dancing ability. So much so that I grew to hate the hula, and vowed to develop into a better dancer than any of them were. Whether I was able to accomplish that would be a matter of opinion among the four of us.

I don't want to bore you with the progress, so I will post this painting again when totally completed, unless I hear from someone to the contrary.

Aloha until next time.

More...Make A Joyful Sound

To those following the progress of this painting, it looks like I may be able to complete it in a few days if I persevere and paint instead of spending time on the computer. This is a diptych so I am anxious to begin sketching the companion painting.