Remembering Joel

Joel Shockman, husband, father, doctor, friend, just passed away last week. I was just beginning to know him better. We were at their home in Kapoho less than two weeks ago and he was sharing his new "toys" with us. His massage chair and a device he picked up in Maui that shakes your legs to align your spine.

I just found out that because of Joel, his partner, Cosette is here in Hawaii. That means because of Joel, Arthur has a gallery in Hilo. Because Cosette is Arthur's partner/co-owner in the gallery. Without the gallery, I wouldn't have gotten to know Arthur as well, either. We would just have been "hi there, what was your name again?" friends at the beach. And though I was painting in oils before meeting Arthur, he got me started doing plein air. And only because he was opening the gallery and asked me if I wanted to be a part of it. Wow, the chain of events because of a person. Thank you Joel.

Childrens Illustrators dot Com

About a month ago I finally uploaded images to this site. See some of my most recent illustrations, a few are of course repeats from past blog posts. Click on the heading to go there.

Merrie Monarch Parade--Hilo Style

This is what I love about Hilo...

The Merrie Monarch Parade started with Miss Aloha Hula from Oahu who I only got the back of because my digital camera likes to turn off at the most inopportune moments, just to foil me. It has something to do with saving energy. At least it doesnt eat through batteries like my last camera.

The second shot is of Mayor Harry Kim. He's so cool. Sometimes I'll see him going out for a walk in the park in just a regular white tee shirt.

Then came the street cleaners, hmm. Shouldn't they come last.

My friend Gail Duituturaga, who is also one of the painters in the Arthur Johnsen Gallery, was also in the parade on her horse. She's the one wearing the shiny brownish cape. She loves to paint horses as well.

The second to the last photo is of my partner Craig and Richard Koob, the owner of Kalani, the eco resort in my neighborhood of Kehena - Red Road. I told him next year we should have a float too. Every year he has these Japanese guests come to attend the Merrie Monarch Festival. So now we're cooking up an idea of a float with Kalani and the Arthur Johnsen Gallery combo... The Japanese ladies can hula and I'm not sure what I'll be doing, I guess helping put it together...

Much Aloha, Tuko

Merrie Monarch in Hilo

This week is the biggest Hawaiian Hula competition in the world. It happens in Hilo and we have more visitors here than probably at any other time. After a day of festivities at the gallery (me painting--that made it sooo festive) Arthur talked me into going to see the festival. I usually watch it on TV. You who are reading this can also see it online at http://thehawaiichannel.com.

On the first day it's more of an international day which means a big halau from Tokyo performs 1/2 the program. The other international performers were from New Zealand (Maori dancers). The finale were Sonny Ching's halau from Oahu. I should add that the whole show started with the procession by the Royal Court, followed by chanting by the Kanaka'ole sisters, the venerable halau of Hawaii.

Try to catch tonight's (4/13/07). It's the most exciting with traditional performances by male (kane) and female (wahine) dancers in competition. It's like 6 hours long, a marathon for the audience as well. I will be watching from my sofa. Tomorrow night is the last night with modern dance performances.

Painting in Kapoho

I went with Arthur and Lino into the gated community of Kapoho. There was a protected bay that we painted.

Arthur had a commission so he had the access clicker from the owner.

Here's Arthur doing his "thang".







Lino is very methodical in his plein air technique.




And here's the start of my little painting.

The best part of the day was getting into the water and swimming around. The area is known for it's geothermal pools and though this was a bay and not a pool the water was still definitely warmer than the open ocean waters.

A friendly sea turtle came up to us and allowed a closer look. Sweet.