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6/18/06 New blog site I have a new blog site which is much easier to update. It is http://tukoart.blogspot.com. 5/28/06 Illustration work Today I had a very productive day, finishing two assignments and managing to get a quick swim in a Kalani. One of the projects was I think rather successful. A birthday card for someone turning 50. I did it in muted colors which probably doesn't translate well on the computer, but it was a fun drawing to do.
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5/28/06 Kona with Tomoyo and Yumiko Tomoyo is a volunteer at Kalani from Japan. She is an aerobics instructor who has a hard time telling people (here) that she's an aerobics instructor. Too many 'r's especially in 'instrutor'. I told her to use 'teacher', only 1 r. She was here for two months and Saturday was her last day on the island and she had never been to Kona, so we decided to take her. She also had a small list of things she wanted to do before she left. We tried to accomodate as many as possible. One was eating a malasada. I think it originated from the Portuguese of the islands. It's a very popular snack. For those unfamiliar, it's like a doughnut without the hole. A sugary puffy fried piece of dough. We went to Tex where they specialize in the filled malasadas. Tomoyo had to have two, boston creme and chocolate creme.
The other big thing on her list was to go to a white sand beach (most of the Big Island has black sand beaches which I would think would be more unique). So we took her to Hapuna Beach, often voted by the Travel Channel as one of the prettiest beaches in the U.S. It's a very long stretch of fine white sand. We also went to "A" Bay by Waikola--to see turtles was on Tomoyo's list. We actually succeeded in spotting a couple from the shore. The weirdest part of the trip was the fact that it was actually quite cloudy on the Kona side and when we started on our trip back over the saddle (between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, a kind of short cut back to Hilo) we went through a thick fog bank, very common on Saddle Road as it is called and then it totally cleared up to where we could see both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. I'd never seen them so clearly, ever. At first we thought for some reason Hilo was clear and Kona was overcast, but alas as we got closer to Hilo the low clouds became all too visible.
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5/6/06 Fore Pete's Sake Every year there is a golf tournament in Escondido, a town just northeast of San Diego, for a kid who was paralyzed by a drunk driver. Nancy Griffin is a classmate of mine from high school. She has been on the committee that organizes the event since the beginning. A few years ago she asked if I would donate a logo for the event, initially for that year. I really enjoy doing this sort of thing for what I consider a good cause. I worked up some designs, at first thinking this for this year and that for next, but they liked one design in particular so much that it's become the yearly logo with just minor changes to color and maybe font or what ever I see fit.
to find out more about the tournament go to www.peteflynn.org 4/27/06 For my good friend, Debbie Tilley, who actually reads this blog, I took some photos today and will attempt to update more regularly... One thing I should explain is that I live in the jungle, with my partner, Craig. By jungle, I mean this....
Here's Craig with a machete. You need one to cut the jungle down. You have to do this or the jungle will take over...
Red Road Blue I've actually completed another painting...It took almost a month to finish because of all the rain. People saw me out there for weeks painting it as they zoomed by. Some would stop to look and chat. I love that about Hawaii, all the friendliness...
Kalani is having a show this Sunday, of art and also performance. I'll put this in to share with the community. My Japanese friends (who volunteer there so they can stay for months at a time, learning hula) will be dancing and there's usually music and stuff like that. I'm so grateful that Kalani (the complete name is Kalani Honua--- 'heaven on earth') is so close by. It's an eco resort, community center, sports center--okay, so the only sport is volleyball, yoga center, and restaurant (glorified cafeteria, but they do serve pretty good food and sometimes it's exceptional). 4/25/06 I've started painting a bigger series since my return. Bigger means it takes a lot longer to finish something. Plus the weather hasn't cooperated, it's been a very rainy winter and we are all ready for summer. So now I have 3 new paintings in various stages of completion. Arthur just called so I guess we're going back on the Red Road (though mine are turning out blue these days...) ---2 hours later... it started to downpour on us so we had to quit. I guess there's something to be said for studio artists... 1/26/06 It's been very rainy here back on the rock. I guess in December we were suffering from a drought. Well, it's hello raindrops now. I'm sure the water tank is overflowing, since it wasn't even near empty due to the fact that we weren't here. Last weekend I took a trip to the Kona side. Kona means dry and that was what I was hoping for. And luckily, it was very nice, not too hot but warm enough to go swimming. I took Yumiko to the marina beach near the airport. I love that beach because it's never crowded and there's a shallow protected pool where sometimes turtles come in to swim and just outside the protected area is some pretty snorkelling and more turtles. I'm starting a new series of paintings in the spirit of Valentine's day, my heart series. I was thinking they would make nice greeting cards.
(Happy Valentime's Day) ;-) 12/23/05 I've spent the last month in Santa Fe, NM. I was hoping to get some painting done alas, it wasn't to be. But I did get a fair amount of inspiration from visits to the galleries here, great hikes and the unbelievable sunsets. We leave tomorrow for California and will be back in Hawaii on the 29th.
It snowed while we were here though not enough to be able to ski. Can't have everything but it was still quite beautiful.
11/6/05 Today is my niece's birthday. She asked me for a painting for her present this year... of all things, so I came up with this--a portrait of her with the family dog.
11/5/05 Last night was the opening for the East Hawaii Cultural Center's All-Hawaii Juried Show in Hilo. Both Arthur and Pattie not only were in the show, they received the Juror's Prize and Arthur got an Honorable mention for his other piece. Arthur kindly said if I worked bigger I would win a prize too (theirs' were big for sure). As if big means better (I mean theirs were better because they were better, not bigger). But still I was very happy to be in my first show.
After the big evening Arthur, Nikko (Arthur's friend), Nikko's dad and I went out to dinner. We were talking and Arthur was asking about the other places I'd live. I told him about New York and he mentioned how he wished he'd lived at least once in his life, like he missed the boat not living there in his youth. But for myself, as much as I'm glad I did do the New York thang, I would trade it in a heartbeat for coming to Hawaii in my youth too. Hindsight is always 20/20. 11/1/05 Kimberly Dark, local performance artist and poet, came in today for a sitting at the gallery. As I was painting her image guests would come in and watch and occasionally buy something, but mostly just watch while I painted. A funny thing happened--a couple came and were watching so to make conversation I told them Kim was performer in the area, blah blah blah... They'd never heard of her but then noticed another portrait I had brought in that happened to be on the floor (because it was still quite wet, it was in a box on the floor). The man said, "I've seen her before" referring to the portrait. It was another portrait of Kim I had done the week before, so she did look familiar...I like it when life presents a humorous moment out of nowhere.
10/29/05
All Hawaii Juried Show Another day at the gallery today, but first I entered some of my work in the juried show at the East Hawaii Cultural Center in Hilo. 3 pieces to be exact. I really wanted to enter my latest piece which I'm calling Nuts about Cocos for the time being until I think of something better. But it was still very wet--I stupidly put the finishing touches on it yesterday--can't believe how time just flies, I thought I had a couple more days. So, of course it made the painting better, but too wet to enter into today's competition. Wah... I guess there will be others. Hmmm. Maybe another island... So anyway, the curator/judge for the show was someone from Kauai, Carol Yotsuda. She does installation type sculpture among other things. Good news. Two pieces got in. The third piece which I was going to trade out for the Coco piece didn't. But 2 out of 3 ain't bad. The reception is next Friday--which is also Black and White Night in Hilo (we are all supposed to dress in Black and White, not hard for me to do). The two that made it-- Heleconia Study 1 and Aloe Jungle.
10/24/05 Feeling alive... Yesterday I had a conversation with Arthur. I think he's such a master at what he does. I'm a relative puppy doing this fine art thing. So he was telling me of his own disatisfaction with his work. That he wants to grow more. Change. I think it's that need to feel alive that we all have in wanting change. Whether you need to travel to some place new or just try something new. You learn something new and that's growth. It stimulates something in your brain, new cells maybe. So it'a kind of a drug. We spent the afternoon with the Uncle Robert kids, making plaster masks. The kids were great. It was a lot of work and exhausting, but still a good feeling that we did something positive for these kids in their lives. Hawaiian kids are so loving. I guess it's their loving parents. The Hawaiian people just exude so much love. People need love to thrive. |
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This is out our lanai.
