Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!!

That means Happy New Year, of course. My crazy ornaments were my favorite artwork from this year so I cobbled some together to print out as a New Years greeting, which I will send out in a leisurely manner. The gallery is closed for a week as we all needed some R 'n' R, even though Hilo seems bustling at this time of year. We'll pull it together again and perhaps even celebrate "first Friday" next week by staying open late.

Here I am in my studio and also in my garden. A hui hou! ('til we meet again)

Ornament Madness

The gallery windows are all festive now with handpainted AJ ornaments hanging and twirling from bamboo branches. I put so much work into them that I almost hate to sell them. Tuko, as usual much smarter than me, is coming up with designs that she prints off her computer and decoupages to the wood which makes them much less labor intensive. They should make it into the gallery any day now.

These pictures are of some of my experiments. This is my time of year to just play with colors and have fun with the paint, which I forget to do sometimes.

Plein Air at Alealea Point

Christmas ornaments

Arthur in his studio busy making beautiful one-of-a-kind ornaments.

Hilo Plein Air Group

Mike Sakamoto took these photos of the Hilo group painting the bayfront on a gorgeous Thursday. Our Gail Duituturaga paints a gem. click any photo to enlarge

Trip to Kona

Arthur and I went to Kona which I talk about on my own blog (click on the title here). We stopped in the Mauna Lani Hotel where you can stroll around and see Arthur's beautiful work hanging on their walls. Can you believe they put this chair in front of the painting?

PAPOH Pictures

I learned a lot from the visiting Plein Air Painters of Hawai'i. It's always good to be reminded that one's own style is not the only way to do a painting. It did seem that Big Island painters use a brighter palette than the others, which could be a source of pride except that designers and collectors often prefer more subtlety. Oh well, we do what we love.... Tuko posted many more and better pictures on her blog, tukoart.blogspot.com.

Painting Away

Tuko took these pictures of me painting in an aloha shirt (and I took this one of her) last week. We can't seem to stay away from our "office" at mile 17.