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.

Children of the Rainbow - Family of God FINISHED!!

Omigoodness ... July 29, 2013 was my last posting - that was when I started laying in the color of the painting "Children of the Rainbow - Family of God."  This has proven to be quite an undertaking.

It started years ago while on vacation on the Big Island of Hawai'i with my sisters and their children and children's children - confused?  Anyhow, I took a picture of my nieces and nephews as they posed with a sea urchin that they retrieved from the ocean.  I developed the film and as I viewed the results that one picture said to me "these are children of the rainbow." The photo showed me  children from diverse ethnicity groups who were all of one family in the earthly sense - but also one family in the spiritual sense - the Family of God.  That was when I decided that someday I would paint a picture of the "children of the rainbow."

The painting reflects the event - and it truly is an event - getting 18 children together to take a group picture.  We have those who are so excited about being a part of it, those who would rather be somewhere else, those who dressed up for the affair and those who didn't.  Of course we have to have the cut-ups. Four generations are present in the painting.  The little blonde toddler with the boy's arms around her - that boy is her father.  Then the boy (blue shirt and tie) and the boy with arms around the toddler are brothers.  I am their mother in the pink dress with white flowers just above them.  I could explain each one, but that would take forever, just know they are all family.

This is where I started - the sketch.

Then the underpainting.

And here is the finished painting, almost seven months since starting...

Many changes made along the way - correcting and changing.  I am so glad it's done; however, I did see a few places that needed work.

Mahalo ke Akua!!  (Thank you God.)

PAINTING AND BEYOND

Although I love to paint, there is another “craft” that I thoroughly enjoy and that is scrap booking. Of course, like anyone else, I did have photo albums of children and other family members with descriptive phrases to identify each photo. However, even before the scrap booking “craze” started I was journaling and adding embellishments to my photo albums. I discovered it was something I really enjoyed doing. Not only was I leaving a pictorial legacy for my children, I was leaving them family history. Some drawbacks to scrap booking is that it does take a lot of time, it makes a mess, and it is never finished. I know these will be enjoyed by family in later years. Even now, my grandchildren (10 and 6) enjoy looking through them.

A painting can take a lot of time, it can make a mess, but it does come to completion. Even though you may start anew, each painting is a project that you can bring to completion.

Here are first two photo pages out of my “Ohana” (family) scrapbook.





You may notice that the photo of my son and his wife on the first page is a photo of a painting that I did of them.