TukoArt Blog

Kehena Beach Ironwood Tree

2011-12-26T23:01:00.000-10:00

I've been drawing the now iconic ironwood tree that stood in the north end of Kehena beach with it's gnarly roots exposed, a measure of how much of the beach has been dropping over the years. It finally fell over the Thanksgiving weekend during a particularly huge rainstorm. I'm not sure if anyone was at the beach when it actually fell because of the storm. But here are some of those sketches starting from 2006. There are folks here who remember the tree when it was still living with pine needles (greenery). People were still climbing it 'til almost the end and when it fell it had been hanging on with maybe only 6 inches to a foot to spare. I'll post the most recent drawings soon.

Here's a photo taken just last September.

New Work at the Wailoa Center

2011-11-03T23:52:00.006-10:00

Earlier this year Esther Szegedy asked me to be a part of a group show with the theme title Every Picture Tells a Story. I made up this promo for the group. The opening is today, Friday, November 4th, at the Wailoa Center near downtown Hilo.

I did a mixture of sizes and did a whole series of 6x6 originals. Brian Tanimoto, a great framer in Hilo made up the fantastic frames for me. Here's a sampling of my art (as always, all copyrights protected). Prints will be available at the Arthur Johnsen Gallery.

kitty, kitty

bunny meets octopus

bunnydive

abstract mermaid

arthur stuff in Oahu

2011-08-23T15:30:00.003-10:00

I went to Oahu for a quick weekend trip. One evening while walking around Waikiki I stumbled upon a parking garage with the most incredible murals. I recognized them immediately as Arthur's, my friend that I frequently write about, paint with, hang with, who's taught me so much about art and painting and life.

One (meaning me) forgets sometimes just how accomplished Arthur Johnsen is. And then you just come across this by happenstance in the middle of the night in Waikiki... his murals at a parking garage, a parking garage! in Waikiki. Go Arthur!

West Hawaii paper

2011-01-24T23:00:00.003-10:00

I got in the Friday paper of the West Hawaii paper, a nice surprise.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-24T16:36:00.001-10:00

Finally it's the year of the rabbit!! Hope it's even more terrific that 2010!!

Inspiration

2010-11-26T21:42:00.006-10:00

I wish I could say it always comes from within but having been commercially working for the past 20 years, a deadline is a strong motivator. And so there is this show that is coming up, a juried one at the Wailoa Center, a state sponsored and operated gallery in Hilo. The theme was companion animals. I don't have a pet here but there are plenty of people who do and so I saw this sleepy guy at a cafe down the street from where I live. Well it's about 4 miles down because I have no cafe in my neighborhood actually.

At first I started to do something a little more shall we say realistic. It wasn't really because I did my usual 'abstract' coloring to it. But then I decided to do a more fun doggie. And there we have it. The show is being judged this weekend (deadline) and opens next week.

You know you've been in one place too long when...

2010-10-04T12:30:00.004-10:00

I was visiting the mainland. I was going to go to lunch with some friends so I put on my favorite Hawaiian dress and one of them stopped me and said no. Oops, did I lose it? So I had to change into a nice tank and cute matching pants (it was a hot day).

I remember when I lived in New York City and no matter how hot it got you never went downtown wearing shorts. I also always wore black back then, but then I always used to wear black even when I lived in California before that. The point is I used to know these things.

So when in Rome... and now that I'm back on the islands I'm wearing my favorite dress once again and feeling good.

A warm evening in Hilo

2010-09-06T08:59:00.010-10:00

I didn't take any photos. If you want to see photos of our Opening go to the gallery blog. I've been trying to upload a video that Everett shot of our gallery, but for whatever reason it doesn't want to come up. I'll have to try later.

Meanwhile...

Hilo hasn't been as rainy this year (climate change?) so we've had a great summer. We had a nice run of strawberry guavas (which a lot of people consider a weed tree because they seem to be taking over and smothering other plants out). From our yard--we made our own juice. But with all the work of harvesting (like coffee farmers), grinding and filtering out seeds, to get a little bit of juice, well, it's good it's seasonal. Later the sweeter yellow ones will come to fruit and it will be this all over again...

Opening Sept 3rd

2010-08-23T13:30:00.003-10:00

We will be celebrating 5 years since the opening of the Arthur Johnsen Gallery. This fantastic singer that I first saw at Kalani (she was a volunteer there) will be singing for us. Her name is Natasha Helen Davies, she's only 19 but a rare talent. Our gallery opening will be from 5-7 and all the artists should be there. We're also thinking about having an auction of some of the art. Stay tuned for more details.

Abba in Hilo

2010-07-19T12:09:00.002-10:00

Over the weekend the Puna Men's Chorus played at the Palace. It was fun to see our friends singing (and dancing).

AJ Gallery Opening

2010-07-12T06:47:00.009-10:00

Deborah Beaver (painter)

We had an opening 2 Fridays ago, on July 2nd to introduce our newest artists. Unfortunately I didn't photograph everybody, but here a some of them (they are wearing pink leis)....

Emily Herb (potter) on the right

Leslie Sears (painter) on the left

Gail looking happy as her husband entertained us....

When the model doesn't show up.

2010-05-26T15:29:00.005-10:00

It's been awhile since I last posted. Lots of visitors, stuff to do, Merrie Monarch, etc. Too many to post now, this late, so I'll just start with last Saturday's life drawing session. Our scheduled model didn't show up so we decided to just take turns and draw each other. Clothed and unclothed depending on our comfort level. I actually kind of liked having a different model per drawing.

Photo Tunnel

2010-04-04T23:16:00.009-10:00

The software my camera came with let's me do this cool thing called photo tunnel. It takes a folder and turns the photos on it into a tunnel that scrolls through the photos so I can see them all at once. I can't upload it here but I did do some screen captures so you can see what I was up to yesterday (cutting bamboo, making pareos, going to Kalani's Art event, oh and life drawing in the morning which I didn't photograph). If you click on the photos they enlarge somewhat, thus saving me the time of uploading them all... ;p

Downtown Hilo Dot Com

2010-03-30T07:43:00.002-10:00

I just found out Downtown Hilo has a website and we are on it. Check out this page: http://www.downtownhilo.com/Gallery/tabid/59/AlbumID/380-7/Default.aspx and click on the Art Gallery photo, it's us!! Yay, but I guess we were closed, Boooo.

BTW

2010-03-03T13:11:00.002-10:00

With all this tsunami craziness I forgot to mention that the weekend before there was the yearly canoe race that starts in Pohoiki, about 8 miles away, ending up at our little beach. This year they were treated to extra calm waves, not the usual thrashing that's normal here. Good thing they didn't race the following (tsunami) weekend!

Tsunami morning in Kehena

2010-02-28T16:59:00.004-10:00

I thought something was up when I got a call before 6AM Saturday morning. It was my sister from the mainland asking if I knew about the tsunami. I was still half asleep and thought she was talking about the one for Japan because of the Okinawa earthquake. She said no, the Chile earthquake, there was one coming maybe to Hawaii. I had no idea. Then, right at 6AM the first tsunami sirens started to go off. This is something I'd never experienced. The siren regularly goes off every first Monday of the month at noon, that's the only time I'd ever heard it go off. It's just a drill.

I walked over to Arthur's house armed with a camera and binoculars. We're on pretty high ground so I didn't think even if a tsunami hit it would affect us (at 800 ft. from the beach but probably the equivalent of 8-10 stories up), the cliffs being maybe 5 stories high. Plus lots of jungle in between to offset a tidal wave.

Normally, we have life drawing on Saturday mornings but since the roads were closed along most of the Red Road (our main road that runs along the coast) I didn't think anyone would be coming and so by default the session would be cancelled. But right at 9AM (with sirens now blaring every hour), Richard showed up with participants and a model. So with the pending tsunami we still had life drawing. Of course, by 11AM I was so distracted that I couldn't continue and Miss Yumiko and I went down to see if we could watch the tsunami roll in. Arthur just laughed and stayed with the class. Here's what we saw....

The only clue that something was amiss was this civil defence road flag left from when civil personnel weren't letting people into certain neighborhoods.

There was a group of us spectators waiting to see and just watching the surf surge back and forth kind of like normal, maybe slightly higher but not really too different from our normal high surf.

Well, it was kind of a rush, the expectation and all but after the appointed time came and went without a tsunami it was life back to normal.

The coolest thing that happened yesterday is that we did spot some whales later that day cruising by.

Happy Heart Day

2010-02-09T10:08:00.002-10:00

Thought I should get this in before the day passes...

Art Music and Dance at Kalani

2009-12-27T14:44:00.011-10:00

Every few months Kalani hosts an art event. Last night was the winter celebration.

Oils by Leno Laure.
Kehena Beach scene by Justin.
I didn't catch the young guy's name that did these cool graffiti caps. He was also taking custom orders.
Don Young's Red Road painting.
Carol Delano's Oils.
Surf board art by Roy.
Arthur's most recent landscape and his "sketch" for the St. Regis Hotel project.

I actually had some new stuff to show (new meaning never been displayed).

Richard painted these doors that will adorn Kalani Mauka and Kalani Kai. Please go to his kalani website for more info.

I shot more videos but the files are too big, I'm just uploading the smaller files. You get the idea.

And then we all danced to Marimba.

Ho ho ho

2009-12-26T17:31:00.001-10:00

Season's Greetings

2009-12-25T06:53:00.006-10:00

This is the little beach that started to form around 20 years ago when the Kalapana lava flow started and pushed out the famous surfer's beach that had been there for centuries. I've never braved out there myself but on the Solstice our friend, Roger, decided to give us all a show. We clapped when he got back to shore (for me a relief as well as admiration).

holiday party at the gallery

2009-12-16T16:54:00.003-10:00

Kehena lock down

2009-12-16T16:44:00.004-10:00

From about 4 AM until 4PM today there was a road closure into and out of our little village of Kehena due to a report of gunshots in the middle of the night. At first I heard it was a sniper and that the police were looking for him. Then I heard he had a machine gun. We went down to the beach and saw the blockade on our way down. At the beach we heard that a guy had barricaded himself in his home and had guns and explosives. It kept escalating. We don't really know the truth yet because until less than an hour ago the police couldn't get the guy to come out of his house (about 2 blocks from us--lovely). We did our usual big swim (beautiful day and super calm seas, I didn't even need my wetsuit, it was that warm). On our way home the police told us we couldn't even go through the jungle to get home. So we had to go back down to the beach and then go to our friend's house and hang until they had the situation handled. We even saw a big swat mobile. What a day. Hope no one was hurt. Someone interviewed our friend, Roger, for the local paper. We'll have to look for the story in tomorrow's edition (www.hawaiitribune-herald.com) for more information.

Update: the man was killed. Here's the link.

Max

2009-10-31T17:01:00.005-10:00

We had a sweet yogi from Seattle today. Here's my 25 minute sketch. Can't wait to do this for real in Barcelona (Arthur's jk).

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T16:54:00.003-10:00

We get to be ridiculous at least one day a year! We made these costumes for a party last weekend. Great that Arthur had extra card board.

Dog Eat Dog World

2009-10-12T23:13:00.003-10:00

Recent concept for a graduation card- you know, it's a dog eat dog world out there...

Another trip to the lava flow...

2009-10-08T23:41:00.007-10:00

I don't usually get up before 7, but if you want to see the lava, you gotta go when it's dark and the best time is before sunrise. You walk out in the dark so you can see the lava flowing from the mountain (it was), see the glowing fireworks (we did), see the sunrise (actually, the plume from the smoke obscured the sunrise, but still cool), and then a relatively easy hike back to the car. So yes, I did get up at 4:30 this morning. Totally worth it. I couldn't believe how close we got (and yes, I was a little frightened as well as awed by it).

This is what I saw as I was leaving the area...

Portrait drawing at Arthur's studio

2009-09-20T10:27:00.003-10:00

Arthur jokes that maybe he and I should take a trip to Barcelona and do portraits on the streets. Sounds like fun to me.

Obon in Pahoa

2009-08-25T10:46:00.009-10:00

I've been kinda getting sucked into life drawing and beach sketching world and haven't really had much to report lately. This weekend Bon dancing came to Pahoa. Actually, Saturday was very busy but I'll just talk about the Bon dance. It's a Buddhist festival to honor the beloved departed ancestors. Pahoa was once a sugar cane town with a lot of Japanese workers. There's even a Japanese cemetary that I didn't know about located in the back areas. I never saw so many Japanese come out to one location in Pahoa (because now it's been taken over by the come lately hippie types that cruise the health food store and a few other shops. The town really has potential and it keeps trying to make it but it's pretty scruffy and has a ways to go before it's another Paia or even a Hawi. And bringing in a Long's Drugstore and some national chain fast food places on the other end of Pahoa isn't exactly amping up the charm meter.

Back to the Bon dance, held in the Buddhist (temple--it's hard to call it that because the building is very sterile and lackluster) parking lot. Here are some videos from that event. I especially loved this boy who really knew the moves. I tried to join in a little, along with my friends Y and C but we don't know the dances, at least my attempts were too feeble and I get embarrassed very easily, so I opted for being the camera person.

In the end we watched from outside the chain link fence (more minus charm points - ha) as we spotted a couple of friends dance by. Our friends acknowledged that they'd been practicing for weeks. Well, of course.

My friend, Y from Japan, was telling me that it wasn't so popular any more for the young to mix with the old in the real Japan. Similar to language (I studied linguistics a long time ago), how people who move to another area keep their old phrasing and don't "change with the times" of the original culture. So too must a cultural phenomenon that's huge in Hawaii and other parts where in this case the Japanese transplanted themselves many generations ago the traditions haven't changed so much in the host country. A kind of historical "artifact" of what the people brought over (a hundred years ago). It must be true in other cultures. That would be a fascinating study.

Coffee and Art at the Four Seasons

2009-07-21T23:04:00.003-10:00

I'm trying to come up with some new images for the Cream of the Crop Coffee and Art Show at the Four Seasons Hotel this Saturday (10AM -2PM). I'm having fun. This will be the third year that Arthur and I have done this show.

Sketching at the beach

2009-07-14T18:04:00.008-10:00

For I think the past two years I've been keeping a sketch journal of my trips to the beach. I keep the sketch book in my backpack with a few pencils so it's always there, whenever I want to draw. It's good practice for me and a fun way to pass the time, since I don't really like to lie around myself. But luckily, I have lots of subjects who do. It's a great way for me to combine my two loves, drawing and swimming.

Arthur's Life Drawing Class

2009-07-02T23:08:00.009-10:00

Arthur had his first life drawing session at his studio. Today's topic, negative space and Arthur had a very novel way of demonstrating it with a large cardboard cutout. It made it easier to see the negative space.
I was his assistant. That means clean up before the class and after and make sure everyone has enough paper. Please read about his class at his blog. He asked me to upload some photos to his blog but for some unknown reason it's blocked at the moment so I'm including the photos here. Next week's class covers gesture. Drop in fee is $25, of which a portion goes to the model.

A J Gallery Notes: Art Opening, Friday, June 19th

2009-06-18T23:40:00.000-10:00

A J Gallery Notes: Art Opening, Friday, June 19th

Friendship....the Bread.

2009-06-18T21:53:00.002-10:00

Seriously, someone gave me a starter for an Amish Friendship Bread with a sheet of instructions. 10 days later I made two loaves of very tasty bread and 4 starters of my own to pass on to friends... Now it's 10 days later again and I have two more loaves, my friends have two loaves each and we all have more starters to pass on. You see where this is going. It's a pyramid scam where we will run out of friends to give these to and the funniest part is we are all on the same schedule, baking 10 days later and having more of these starters (and so on). It's way too funny. Of course, I gave one to my paint buddy, Arthur. He was wondering if we really have to go through all this (the instructions call for mushing and mushing everyday and adding ingredients along the way) or if we could just bake using the recipe without the starter, really, because of all this dividing you end up using only 1 cup of starter so it becomes kind of a minor part of the recipe... I guess someone will have to do a test, but I suspect this is to just keep one on a baking schedule... at least no one said if you break this 'chain' something terrible might happen. Arthur, please do the test so we can find out if we can stop baking every 10 days...

Rogerio turns 50

2009-06-07T11:21:00.003-10:00

A good friend is turning the Big 5-0, which of course doesn't seem so old in scale any more, but it's still a significant number (next one being 100?--).

Anyway, my friend is into yoga but his other passion which we all kind of share, though aren't as proficient at it as he is is Sudoku. But I thought maybe this image was a little more dignified. He is the king of Sudoku in our neighborhood though.

Cheers, Rogerio.

Our jobs.

2009-05-26T09:34:00.004-10:00

Some people get the attitude that because we love what we do it isn't work anymore. But the truth to me is that this is what I do for a living so even though it's kinda fun, okay, really fun, it's still 'work'. Here's Arthur and Cosette discussing her painting (at the jobsite)--yesterday.

Adam should have won.

2009-05-21T17:14:00.001-10:00

Want more American Idol videos? Click here.

Joy of drawing.

2009-05-13T11:27:00.006-10:00

Sometimes we get a model that is so perfect they are almost too easy to draw. And because of this also a joy thanks to all the parts being in proportion. Such was the case last Saturday for our life drawing session. This is a drawing I just did here on the computer from memory. See, pretty effortless, even with a mouse.

New Pareos for the gallery

2009-04-22T17:28:00.003-10:00

How I spent my Tuesday afternoon with Arthur, the silk screen king...

Kalani Part 3, Performance Art

2009-04-22T15:57:00.004-10:00

The performance portion of the program was short, only two dances, one with hula dancers doing O Pele with a silk dancer and then Kimo doing a solo.

Kalani Art Show

2009-04-22T15:39:00.007-10:00

Right after the opening ceremony Kalani hosted an art and performance show. It's a local style show, people from the neighborhood but mostly Kalani volunteers show their craft. There's always a lot of creativity that comes through Kalani. I participated with 3 new pieces, including a portrait of a hula dancer (because I was told that was the theme, notice how everyone complied...)

Kalani opens their Aloha Center

2009-04-22T15:23:00.004-10:00

Kalani honua has a new office and cafe at the entrance of the eco resort. Sunday Kimo, beloved hula instructor at Kalani, headed a ceremononial chant to bless the new space with the help of Dottie.

Merrie Monarch Parade

2009-04-22T15:07:00.005-10:00

It's already come and gone. We opened the gallery on Saturday so we could watch the parade. Here are some photos though half way through my camera ran out of juice.

I know it looks like mostly Pau riders but really we had some nice floats with hula dancers and music. I'll have to upload the videos later.

Welcome in Japanese

2009-04-13T13:14:00.003-10:00

How about this. Our fourth year with the gallery and someone had the brilliant idea to capitalize on my knowledge of Japanese (with all the Japanese people that come to Merrie Monarch--usually half the audience is from Japan!! The biggest halaus-hula groups- are Japanese, not Hawaiian). Of course I don't think I want to work a whole week at the gallery, as good an idea as that one is, but I did the next best thing and made this sign...

Merrie Monarch Painting

2009-04-04T15:15:00.005-10:00

Merrie Monarch is happening again in less than a couple of weeks. Hilo's biggest event. It's also the world's premiere hula competition and it happens right here. So finally the gallery got it and decided to hold a hula art show and opening. Duh, we're so brilliant sometimes... The opening was well attended because we also got it together to send out emails to let people know (finally all those years of filling out our guest book paying off for the guests--they heard from us). Here is my painting for the show. We also had actual hula dancers perform. Ehulani Stefany's dancers and even Ehulani herself doing the some modern hula (called ‘auana). A fun-filled evening at the Arthur Johnsen gallery. Go to the gallery blog to see photos from the opening (and Arthur's paintings).

Bee Keeper

2009-03-19T09:08:00.004-10:00

I was in Kona last week. When possible, I like to go to Holualoa to the Donkey Mill Art Center. It's one of the best galleries on the island. They were having their annual auction art show. One piece that really struck me was a sculpture piece. I'm sorry I didn't make a note of the artist to give him credit. The artist is a bee keeper and he got this idea to have the bees help him sculpt. It was a fascinating concept. Here's a work in progress that for obvious reasons is behind glass. There's a hole in the back of the box for the bees to go in and out of. This was displayed in their garden area outside with a warning that if you were allergic to bees not to go.

Puna motto

2009-02-22T15:18:00.003-10:00

On my way up the hill from Kehena Beach (after a long swim with Richard from Kalani) I saw a sign that put a smile on my face. The sign was handmade and much more authentic and interesting than my rendition, painted on a paper plate, but here's the message:

Dustin

2009-02-21T14:54:00.004-10:00

Another life drawing session with a new model who was a natural.

Paul Korda

2009-02-04T12:28:00.005-10:00

Old friend and musician and former client of Craig's came through for a visit last week and in that time was able to make a music video, mostly of our area. Look for Arthur painting at Davis'. The baby swinging is at our little beach in Kehena. Cool. Good luck Paul. While he was here he gave a two song concert at the Kalani cafe. My little keyboard never sounded so good. Of course those of us who were lucky enough to hear him in such a cozy venue were treated to a true world class rocker. Click on his name to link to his web page for more info about him.

Watching the Super Bowl

2009-02-02T12:09:00.002-10:00

Actually, we only watched the commercials, thanks to our DVR (digital video recorder). Usually we fast forward through the commercials, except during the SB. For me, the commercials are the best part and of course I'm partial to the animated ones.

YMO

2009-01-30T17:28:00.004-10:00

A band I followed in the early 80s. Cute commercial.

Good-Bye, Mike Sakamoto (1949-2009)

2009-01-26T09:26:00.009-10:00

Fellow island plein air painter Mike Sakamoto recently passed away after a long illness. I will miss his humor (he was always sending us all the funniest jokes) and his kindness and generocity in sharing his knowledge and friendship.

Yesterday, Arthur and I painted at Davis's again in honor of Mike.

These are just a few of the paintings he would email me throughout the last couple of years. I'm glad I can post them here. Aloha, Mike, dear friend.

toy project

2009-01-23T09:13:00.003-10:00

My other creative outlet where I make up stuff.

Painting at Davis's

2009-01-23T08:50:00.007-10:00

Arthur has a friend who has a beautiful property in Opihikao. Here's Arthur finishing up a sketch/painting of some ti plants.

I decided to go for a Valentine theme. And Bugsy sat by on sleepy guard duty.

Lava Trek part 2-the hike back.

2009-01-22T07:15:00.002-10:00

Lava Trek

2009-01-21T17:14:00.007-10:00

Last Saturday morning I got up at 3:30 AM to meet a group of friends who wanted to go for a lava trek. It was extremely windy at that ungodly hour but I'm glad I did it. The deal is you want to see the lava while it's still dark, see the sunrise and walk back in daylight (a good thing).

At sunrise Arthur and Pamela, his childhood friend visiting from Canada, treated us to a Hawaiian chant. Unfortunately, all you hear here is the wind.

Life drawing

2009-01-10T21:35:00.006-10:00

Another Saturday session at Arthur's Studio. The last couple of times I've decided to work smaller instead of the traditional huge sizes, mostly so I don't have to stand while drawing. I once studied life drawing with Justine Wolfson (who also taught intaglio print making). I think I was kind of channeling her because as I was drawing I remembered her detailed small drawings that she would do during the class while she encouraged us to draw large. We had a great model today, someone who'd done it for over 20 years, a real "pro" (he actually has an MFA, in sculpture and ceramics-but he probably did a lot of modeling during art school). He was very strict with our one minute gesture poses so in some ways it was good that I was working smaller.

Happy New Year!

2008-12-29T09:05:00.001-10:00

Holiday wishes

2008-12-23T15:06:00.003-10:00

...please click image to enlarge.

P5

2008-12-22T08:49:00.002-10:00

back to youtube...

LV commercial

2008-12-20T22:02:00.002-10:00

Louis Vuitton commercial - Fantastic Plastic Machine - "Different Colors"I think this Louis Vuitton commercial is so cool. I just discovered this website, imeem.com. It's great for listening to music. You can pretty much listen to anyone, even find whole albums. I hope it doesn't get shut down. You can't download from them, you still have to buy the music if you want it for yourself, like if you wanted to listen on your ipod, but for music off the computer it's the best I've found.

Paradise Park Art Studio tour

2008-12-10T14:49:00.012-10:00

Fellow artists, Esther Sczegedy, Arthur Johnsen, hula friend, Yumiko-san, and I spent our Sunday doing the Hawaiian Paradise Park Art Studio Tour. It's always interesting to see other artists' studios. HPP is one of the largest neighborhoods in the U.S. and they seem to have their share of talent.

Santa's Elf...me

2008-11-23T21:57:00.004-10:00

Can't believe how fast another year goes by... I'm only now beginning to try to come up with new styles for Xmas ornaments to sell at the gallery. Here's the first.

Kalani art show

2008-11-23T12:39:00.007-10:00

I unfortunately didn't take my camera to last night's Art Show at Kalani but I must say I was glad I went (and even participated in it). Sometimes I start to feel like a hermit not wanting to venture out, forgetting that Kalani has these wonderful events, really more often than not. And it's so close (out here in this remote part of Hawaii). More than the art there were the huge pool of talent among the volunteers who work at Kalani. I suppose it attracts a higher percentage of alternative lifestyle types that would even come to Kalani (even as yoga and meditation have become so mainstream). From aerial dance to lots of music, a fashion show and even a very well done short movie we were well entertained. I must make sure to be at the next one.

Sawada Kenji World

2008-11-18T09:22:00.003-10:00

I'm still stuck in Sawada Kenji Youtube land. It's fun to listen while doing my other work... (making cute little cards at the moment). It's unbelievable how much material there is... Youtube has to the best internet site of the 2000s (so far)...

Puna Butter

2008-11-17T13:36:00.006-10:00

Arthur originally had this project but handed it over to me to massage things on the computer. Much better for making quick changes (his computer was down and he was doing things by hand--not good use of his time...there was a lot of copy to deal with). I was happy to help.

The product is new, Safi had been making this and as things go her friends encouraged her to get it out on the market. Her website is www.newvisionsphere.com

feeling Om sick

2008-11-13T08:53:00.000-10:00

Last night my yoga instructor called me. I hadn't been going for a number of excuses, most good, like I was out of town, I was painting last week at the paintout, though this week I missed it because I overslept. The Yoga class is at 7 AM. It felt like I was getting a call from the high school principal. And she wasn't even calling about my missed classes, just that a new class for tonight had been cancelled. I didn't even know about it. But I still felt guilty about my missed session... see the trap guilt puts you in.

At least the class couldn't be more convenient (my obsession), it's just down the street at Ramashala.

Dear Laurie

2008-11-11T14:47:00.013-10:00

My roommate (see above, that's me on the left, Laurie, my roommate, and our good friend, Grace) from my days in Tokyo (one incredible year) has a great blog where she talks about her experience with a Japanese pop singer. The other day, Arthur just happened to ask me what music I listened to (back in the day). My palate seemed limited. Then I remembered I also listened to J-pop. The YouTube phenomena is tremendous. Not only am I able to see old footage from when I was there but stuff I missed before and since. Here's what I remember (and I can't believe my pop star turned 60 this year).

Of course upon falling into the youtube hole I also found a concert I attended that was actually a television show that was being taped. I didn't see myself in the 32 year old tape but how freaky if I had. I was thinking what great material for a short story in this.

Back to my idol, Sawada Kenji. He was originally in a band called the Tigers, formed in the 60s after the Beatles came to Japan. But he was more like the Mick Jagger of Japan. In the 70s and 80s he was probably Japan's number one male singer. He still has a huge following, even in Hong Kong and Taiwan. I thought this video of a concert he did last year was so touching. He's having a 60th birthday concert in Osaka and Tokyo later this month and next month (though his birthday was in June). Wish I could go.

And here's the song orchestrated...

Big Island Paintout

2008-11-10T21:18:00.005-10:00

Edie at mile 17

Arthur painting a panoramic hilo view from leleiwi

Lynne Boyer painting her favorite lifeguard station

Dan Young with Papoh president Jan Bushart

The Plein Air Painters of Hawaii (PAPOH) had a paintout last week on our island. Painters from neighboring islands came to this event. I love the convenience of having the paintout here.

Vote Obama

2008-10-31T22:39:00.002-10:00

Get out and Vote!

2008-10-31T08:23:00.003-10:00

We drove up to Pahoa and voted. I didn't want to wait until Tuesday, even though it would have been at Kalani (which would have been fun). There were no lines and no one was doing the electronic voting when I was there (they only had one machine). Maybe everyone is afraid of some kind of fraud. I didn't think of that at the time, I was just being my usual gadget self and it seemed easier to me. Besides, in this case, they did have a printer that made a copy of my votes.

There were two people running the election station that day. A woman at the computer who looked things up and a big guy who asked for i.d. The guy was kind of unsmiling and scarey, but then he offered us all Halloween candy.

Card versions

2008-10-29T07:37:00.003-10:00

(my usual effort to make at least 50 cents an hour)

latest illustrations

2008-10-26T23:23:00.006-10:00

It's my latest passion... I'll be selling them as greeting cards.

Chicago/Dick Nelson style

2008-10-24T22:26:00.004-10:00

I couldn't help notice after taking Dick Nelson's color class these examples of his 'color arrays'. The morning sunlight hitting the Hancock building and then the stunning airport corridor on our way to our gate!

Chicago

2008-10-24T21:54:00.002-10:00

What an amazingly beautiful city. I had no idea. This was my first trip. I couldn't believe the great architecture, how clean it was and how wide the sidewalks were. Wide enough to also have flower beds galore! Granted I spent most of my time in the downtown area near the Hancock (I think it was a nice part of town). The 'bean' was the unanimous favorite in the art department, but there were a lot of contenders. We did the tourist thing and rode the doubledecker bus. I highly recommend this as a great way to get a quick overview tour.

Abstract doodles

2008-09-23T15:22:00.004-10:00

Just having some fun in the abstract vein... I'm thinking maybe the Christmas ornaments I do this year will have some of this. I did these on some old chip board that I found left over from a color class I took with Arthur at the EHCC over the weekend. If I'd done these on the computer with the help of my Wacom pad I did think how much faster I would've been (instead of the hours it took to fill in the black areas they could've been filled in in seconds). Still, there's something to that hand done look that's kind of nostalgic to life before computers...

Shark!

2008-09-19T07:08:00.008-10:00

Now of course I have a dilemma. I went swimming later than my usual mid morning because I thought I'd go paint with the Plein Air Painters of Hawaii Island (Amy has started her own blog about it). They were just down the street in Kalapana. So when I got back I still wanted to get my swim in (I get obsessed like this, in New York it was rollerblading everyday, in Santa Fe, hiking). I went with my friend, Rick. I like to swim with a buddy. We usually swim to these rocks across the bay and then to another close to Kehena Point and back. As we were heading towards the point I came across a menacing looking lone creature...

My first shark encounter, too up close and personal. I think it was a reef shark, not all that dangerous except in murky water. We both made it out safely. But still, there have been a lot of sitings lately and even beach closings on the west (Kona) side. So here's my question. How long do I wait before I can venture out there again? I'm a little scared now...(and yet, incredibly, Arthur, who was born in Oahu, has never seen a shark in Hawaiian waters in his life!).

A J Gallery Notes: Anne's Show

2008-09-10T22:08:00.000-10:00

A J Gallery Notes: Anne's Show

Arthur posted some photos from our retrospective show for Anne Whitmore. Click on the link.

Life drawing

2008-09-10T21:18:00.006-10:00

Recently we've gotten into a nice groove of having a life drawing session every Sunday either at Richard's of Kalani or Arthur's. This week we had two handsome models and I had fun with color, which seems to be my colors of the week, as you can see from the floral I also did this week.
as always with all images here, all copyrights belong to the artist.

Anne's Art

2008-08-22T09:31:00.003-10:00

These are actually from our gallery website: www.arthurjohnsengallery.com.

Arthur has also posted photos of Anne on the gallery blog.

Video of Kehena Beach

2008-08-20T10:29:00.004-10:00

Someone posted this on youtube.com of our little beach. I thought it was well done. The spider was a nice touch.

Anne Whitmore

2008-08-14T17:58:00.004-10:00

Our dear friend and gallery mate Anne Whitmore passed away last night after a hard fought battle with cancer. She was our watercolor artist, a jewel among us oil painters with a wonderful style that said she was in command. I love her work, I love work that is simple yet strong, no extra frills, just whatever was needed to convey what she saw. I regret that I didn't paint with her. I saw her last Friday night at the abstract show opening. She had a piece in the show as well. She was so joyful, throwing kisses and big smiles. I'm glad that's my last memory of her.

This photo of one of her paintings is one she had in our recent SMALL Show. Sorry the quality of my photo is so poor. I'll try to get something better up next week.

Abstract portrait

2008-08-13T18:05:00.003-10:00

I thought I'd try a blend of this abstract thing, my new "thing" and portraiture. This is from a photo of a friend who lives here part of the time and part of the time on the mainland.

Lava smoke

2008-08-07T18:12:00.003-10:00

Meanwhile, the lava keeps on flowing. Huge plumes of smoke can be seen from miles away and hundreds of visitors are still making a pilgrimage there daily. I took this photo a couple of days ago and upon uploading onto the computer thought hmmm, the cloud looks kind of devilish. What do you think?

More Abstract Art

2008-08-07T17:55:00.006-10:00

So now, thanks to the juried show, which Arthur and I did get into, I'm on this abstract art roll... It's fun which I think is reflected in the art. It's my 'play' series. The opening is tomorrow (Friday, 08-08-08--a very lucky day) at the Wailoa Center in Hilo, from 5 to 7 or something close to that.

abstract show

2008-07-30T23:00:00.006-10:00

This Saturday the Wailoa Center is taking in art for their biennial Abstract Show. I've never really painted an abstract before but Arthur thought we should just experiment and see what we could come up with (yesterday afternoon). I don't know if it will get in the show but it was fun to do. My boyfriend thinks it should be a vertical, I'm just not sure.

My perfect day...

2008-07-28T14:41:00.004-10:00

Yesterday was absolutely one of my best days. It started with a life drawing session at Richard's at Kalani (kalani.com) from 9 to 10:30. We had a beautiful model, someone visiting the islands for a week, I'm sure she was a dancer or a yogi. Then Kehena beach was warm and easy, a quick swim to the rocks and back and then painting in the afternoon with a group of painters taking a plein aire class from Saim Caglayan from Kauai (great painter and nice guy). I was kind of crashing. It was their last day and he was kind enough to let me hang... they were painting on my turf afterall. The volcano has been going off like fireworks lately and a giant plume could be seen from our vantage (we are only about 5-6 miles from the flow). Draw-swim-paint, life is good...

Model session

2008-07-19T22:30:00.003-10:00

Arthur and I had a life painting session with an Hawaiian model a couple of weeks ago. She's agreed to come back tomorrow. Should be fun.

Meanwhile, we went to the coffee tasting show in Kona, representing the gallery. I sold my heliconia painting which was gratifying, affirmation is always nice.

We actually did a little plein aire painting before heading back to the east side.

Oahu trip part 4 - Chinatown

2008-06-21T08:39:00.004-10:00

Day 2 of the Paintout was in Chinatown. It's become kind of an arts district with lots of galleries in the neighborhood. The hard thing about painting plein aire here was all the noise and big busses that would come by and block our view. Not to mention the smog. Still, artists are pretty typical in Chinatown, though maybe not this many at one time...

Oahu trip part 3

2008-06-21T08:17:00.003-10:00

After Kailua (morning) it was a mad dash to Makapuu Beach, a body surfer's haven.

Here's Lynne again with Jan Bushart, PAPOH prez, down in front of some crashing waves.

I love that Oahu has so many islands off of it. That's Rabbit Island in the distance.

Oahu Part 2

2008-06-19T10:49:00.015-10:00

The point of our trip was to paint with PAPOH (Plein Air Painters of Hawaii) and AHA (Association of Hawaiian Artists?--I think). First day was at Kailua Beach. Arthur and I perched ourselves under the closest tree cover to the beach. If you click on the photo you can see that I used the sand as a convenient brush holder.

Here's a painting start by Mark Brown of Oahu. He also teaches on the island, there was a small contingent of his students who were a part of the paint out.
And here's my friend, Lynne Boyer, painting her fave, the ocean. (I miss those gentle Oahu waves too, now that I'm back in the land of Kehena Beach where the swells are 6-7 feet at times and it loves to grab your ankles and pull you back out to sea... thanks to the full moon action.)

Arthur of course had time to start another painting.

A group of local girls came to practice their hula while we painted.

Oahu trip part 1

2008-06-19T08:02:00.006-10:00

Some people can be so creative, even in their gardens. We saw this in Lanikai, where we were staying. Just a neighbor's house.

We spent the first day running errands, picking up supplies (like mineral spirits, something you can't fly with). Then we passed the time doing a little sightseeing...

We went to the Hawaii State Art Museum. The only free museum.

It was great, they showcased contemporary island artists.

Making assumptions

2008-06-17T13:00:00.002-10:00

It's amazing to me sometimes how people just make an assumption with no information other than what they see at that moment... I was spraying the plants outside our gallery when a woman came walking by and told me to water it, very directly, like an order. I just had and was now just spritzing it for a little more moisture (even though Hilo is a very humid place, it's a pretty warm day today). Anyway, I guess she was just trying to be helpful, but it seemed a rather rude way to do it... am I being overly sensitive?

The Small Show

2008-06-16T09:25:00.007-10:00

Here's the beginning of our Small Show... we decided to make more affordable art for these tough economic times.

Follow Your Bliss

2008-06-14T10:19:00.006-10:00

These are words to live by. Arthur and I went on a painting trip to Oahu and we stayed with his grandfather's 81 year old friend. It was the first time I spent any time on that island off the tourist track. I have a new appreciation for an island that is the most developed of all the islands, yet still with so many unspoiled areas and so much beauty. I'll load photos later. I didn't realise there were so many small islands off it, many that you can canoe to. Swimming is an option to some but there are shallow waters with coral all around so a kayak would be better.

I titled this entry Follow Your Bliss, wise words that I first heard from Joseph Campbell, the philosopher from the Bill Moyer series on Myths. That is because the 81 year old friend used these as her parting words to us after a very productive week of painting, seeing lots of art at galleries and museums, not to mention an infusion of culture, and making contacts.

Then, yesterday a man came into the Arthur Johnsen Gallery (it was my once a week shift) and started telling me about his life. I guess he didn't really start by telling me about his life, I kind of pulled it out of him as he was going through the gallery and talking to me about different things. What struck me was how happy he seemed. At first he told me he used to grow roses. I found out that he had actually studied oceanography. That he actually had a Ph.D and even had been a college professor. But he didn't like the pressure of the academic life, of always having to publish papers (or lose your job), not to mention that he didn't enjoy teaching that much. So, even though he had all this training, he was able to put it all aside to pursue something he would rather do. Why spend the rest of your life doing something you don't enjoy. He figured he cut his losses. So he grew roses for twenty years. I don't think I met anyone so content as this man.

Market in the Hood

2008-05-10T15:30:00.003-10:00

Our local juggling community called Belly Acres started a school for the performing arts. They call it S.P.A.C.E. (Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education). It's just about a mile away and every Saturday they host a little farmer's market. This ties into the gas pricing thing because it is so close. I hadn't been there though until today because I always had to put in my time at the gallery on Saturdays. But now we are open M-F and closed on the weekends which frees me up to do weekend things (nice).

The bearded guy is Graham Ellis who is one of the founders of this community. Over 20 years ago he and fellow jugglers bought 12 acres in the back of the community of Seaview. These are world class jugglers (Graham is from England, there are members from Germany and France and of course the U.S.). Coolest thing is that every so often they congregate and then put on an amazing show for us locals.

It was always Graham's dream to also start a school for young jugglers and other types of performers (like silk aerialists). I love the rainbow beams across the ceiling...

Anyway, we got there a little late so I could only score some arugula, avos, and a giant sapote which I heard makes a good bread.

Price of gas in paradise...

2008-05-08T10:23:00.002-10:00

I meant to put this up last week when this was taken. Now of course the price of gas at my local station has crept up even higher, which is why I hardly ever drive into Hilo...

I'm thankful that the volcano didn't block the road to town last summer, that would have meant a 125 mile deter. Can you imagine?

Studio Painting

2008-04-24T15:26:00.003-10:00

Finally decided to come inside and do some studio work. Here's my Heliconia in G major, the G standing for Georgia O'Keefe of course, who came to the islands and did some gorgeous florals.

Merrie Monarch Parade 2008

2008-04-22T15:34:00.010-10:00

Well, it happened over 2 weeks ago so don't come here for up to the minute news flashes, but here are some photos from this year's Merrie Monarch Parade.

Once again, our Mayor, Harry Kim...

Councilwoman for our district, Emily Naeole

The gang...

in front of the gallery...

Here's a tiny clip of one of the floats...

Merrie Monarch in Hilo

2008-04-03T18:12:00.003-10:00

It's time to watch Merrie Monarch, the premiere hula competition. If you're not on the islands you can catch it live online at www.kitv.com!

Chicken update

2008-03-17T09:38:00.003-10:00

Here she is still...

Also, this morning we had a visit by another little friend who came to lick off the syrup on my fork...