Visit to Home!

Again, I have not posted to this blog in quite a while and I apologize to those of you who follow me.  Time has moved so fast these last few months.  But today I thought I would post about two weeks out of the time since I was last here.  That, for shame, was way back in February, four months ago.  I’m not even going to say that I’m going to do better.  I did that last time and it didn’t seem to make a difference.
     Anyway, the two weeks I am referring to was in April - specifically April 18th to May 1st.  I went to Hawai’i for a two-week vacation after nearly five years of being away.  Fortunately, it was during the time of the Merry Monarch - a hula competition that happens every year with hula halaus (schools) worldwide.  Most of the worldwide was from “stateside” (continental U.S.) and Japan.  This highly anticipated competition is attended by thousands.  Beside the actual competition; the food and crafts are amazing.  For someone like me who has been away from that for years, it was mesmerizing to hear the chants and the beat of the ipu heke (gourd drum with a top section). Seeing the different halaus perform took me back to a time when I was young and agile enough to be able to do those beautiful hulas.  Not only did I partake of a feast for the eyes and ears, but also a feast for the “tummy.”  Food that I have not enjoyed for years.  It was all so ono (delicious) and I made sure I had everything I had missed.  Surprisingly, I only gained a couple of pounds - Yay!!
     Let me
share a few pictures with you. 

Yes, men are also a part of a halau.  Their rendition of hulas are very powerful.

These were the Maori men from New Zealand - they were amazing.

The women were beautiful and so synchronized, as were the men.

Had to add at least one picture of family.

 

Isn’t that beautiful - of course I mean the sunset.  This is “ohana” (family).  I’m the one in the middle flanked by my nieces and sister on the right end.  I had such a wonderful time with them.  My sister came from Oahu (“off island”) and my niece next to her flew in from California with her husband.  We are at their timeshare in Kona, on the Big Island (Hawaii).

I had other pictures I wanted to post; however, I had trouble posting these so thought I'd quit while I was ahead.  Hope you enjoyed them.  Now I'm going to do some painting.

Change of Pace

It has been a while since I’ve done any serious drawing so as a change of pace I thought I would draw instead of paint for a couple of days. Needed a break from the painting anyway and could surely use the drawing practice. I did three pieces…

Started with a very intense portrayal of my nephew...Then onto a tender piece I call "Keiki Kane" (male child). Then decided to do a piece with more of a challenge. I have never attempted to do a drawing with this much detail before, but did enjoy doing it very much and love how it turned out.






























































The practice was good and I found my love for drawing again.

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.

Available Paintings

"Mahalo Ke Akua"
18x24 oil on stretched canvas
$500.00
Photo credit to Richard A. Cooke III
Photographer with National Geographic

"Can't Hide From Him"
18x24 oil on stretched canvas
$500.00
Photo credit to Phil Pegg, contributor to Image Library

"Forgiveness"
16x20 oil on stretched canvas
$370.00

This painting was created from my imagination for a challenge to reflect the
scripture...Psalm 40:2

ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY

It’s my very own special day…MY BIRTHDAY. I won’t tell you how old I am, but I will tell you that I’ve been around long enough to have two little grandchildren appear at my door at 7:00 a.m. singing the Happy Birthday song. That is the wonderful up side of being a Tutu (that’s Hawaiian for grandmother).

Since it is my birthday, I get to relax and do whatever I want to right?? Well today I’m going to give you a break from my painting process, which I am taking a break from, and post a couple of my paintings that I recently completed and have sent to a jury for selection to a local exhibit.

This one is entitled "Beauty in Simplicity"


I call this "Behold His Glory"


This one is "Morning Dew"


I don't usually do floral, but needed a change of pace and in doing so discovered that I really do enjoy doing them.

More...Make A Joyful Sound

This is where we left the painting process yesterday. A detailed sketch on a 24x30 inch, gallery wrapped, stretched canvas that, in my opinion and the opinion of other artists, was not working. Two strong focuses would be detracting to the viewer because each focus is fighting for attention. One suggestion from a fellow forum member was to turn this painting into a diptych. After thinking about it for a couple of months…I took a hand saw, unstapled the canvas on the dancers’ side and sawed the canvas in two. Here’s what I got…(up close shot).


I then laid in the sky and roughed in the background.



So much more to do. What did I get myself into?

Aloha...see you tomorrow.

Make A Joyful Noise

“Make a Joyful Noise” is the title of the piece I am working on now. I started it quite a while ago, but put it aside because I was having quite a few challenges with the concept.

This is the history of this painting. As a staff member of “Aloha Festivals” on the Big Island of Hawaii quite a few years ago I had to be in attendance at an event that took place at the rim of Halema’uma’u Crater. The event was the Investiture of the Aloha Festivals Royal Court. An Investiture is a ceremony to invest with authority or right. A large part of the ceremony was the appearance of the Hula Halau O Kekuhi (dance school) chanters and dancers. The chanters were so emotional and powerful in their delivery of the chants that I knew someday I would paint that scene. But how do you paint that kind of emotion? It has proven to be a challenge. I’ll try to take you through the process.

This is the preliminary sketch

Then it was transferred in two separate segments to a 24x30 canvas with the aid of a grid.

And more detail added


At this point I knew it wasn’t going to work because I had two main focuses, chanters and dancers, vying for the spotlight. After receiving a number of suggestions from artists on my art forums I decided to set it aside for a while, about three months to be exact.

I have resumed this painting and will show more steps tomorrow