We Survived Merrie Monarch

I'm typing this blog entry one-handedly since I just had a surgery to repair my poor ol' rotator cuff (shoulder joint) which finally broke down after years of artistic over-use. Fortunately my friends Alaina and Gheerling are letting me recuperate for the weekend at their rented house in Lanikai!

Merrie Monarch week was exhausting. For the first time we got a booth at the big craft fair, so not only did we have to create and occupy the booth, but we had to fill it with artworks! I spent a great deal of time with Tuko and Cosette printing new pareos and tanktops with tapa and petroglyph motifs.

Tuko outdid herself designing our new rack card, which includes a map showing our location in the grand scheme of downtown Hilo!

Opihikao Evenings

I took a long time off from painting in my usual haunts along the Red Road (Puna Coastal Highway 137). This was partly because I injured my shoulder, and partly just out of tedium. I thought I was bored with the subject matter. But really it is beautiful to be out in the sea breeze, with the sunlight creating an ever-changing blaze of colors in the trees and on the rocks. Today Tuko and I joined Abby Rabinowitz, a painter from California who is looking at some property in the neighborhood. I've been working into a blue painting that I started many months ago. Waiting so long to pick it up again makes it very hard as the palm fronds all change position, and the ocean tide and waves change a lot too. In particular the drought has thinned out the palm foliage and made it a lot browner.

Paintings and Prints by Arthur Johnsen

I'm posting some very casual shots of my current works so my dear friend in Alaska can see what's available. This is not everything I have available now, just things that exemplify the color of the islands with an eye to what would help an Alaskan get through a long cold winter! Many of these paintings and prints were hung for the last two months at the Mayor's office in Hilo.

tsunami excitement

I woke up on Saturday morning to the sound of an incredibly loud, low-flying gigantic aircraft roaring overhead at 6 AM, followed by the anxiety-producing siren blaring near our neighborhood. I figured that we wouldn't be allowed to drive into Hilo, so I had a philosophical (i.e.neglectful) reaction to the idea of a tsunami ploughing up Waianuenue Avenue and busting down our gallery door. But while those of us down in lowest Puna (Tuko and I) lolled about in my studio enjoying our life drawing session, Gail was hard at work with a small gang of friends and family rescuing all the precious artworks threatened by the coming tidal wave.

As it turned out the wave did not rise very high, and so on Sunday we showed up at the freakishly stripped-down gallery and re-assembled the display with the help of Gail's beautiful daughter Sanoe. Hats off to Gail and her award-winning efforts on our behalf. Here's a photo of her recent painting of Sanoe dressing up for a hula performance.

One Day at the Gallery

Having neglected to update this blog since Christmas, I just wandered around with my camera to share a few of the artworks at the gallery this month. Bonnie's new sunset painting is beauty on a grand scale, while Tuko and Cosette continue to produce charming smaller scenes. Esther's been having some severe health challenges, but you'd never guess it from the hilarity and good spirits of her typical work including this big dog with his slipper collection. I love the big colorful paintings by Steve Irvine, but we may be removing them soon as we need each painter to spend some hours helping to run the place and he can't seem to pull that together.

Amy's necklace contains, of all things, a petrified camel's tooth!

We have a couple of new glass sculptures by an artist down in Paradise Park, Daniel Moe.

I'm liking my new tapa-design mats on some of my landscape prints, just some of many uses I'm finding for a big stack of Nepalese rice paper given to me by Tim, across the street at the Katmandu gallery.

I happen to have a couple of old portraits of Chiu Leong and Eva Lee, which I had to retouch for them. Something about the wierd weather lately was making them bubble up and produce a powdery residue which fortunately came off without damaging the portraits... It's funny to revisit this older genre of work and note the slightly cartoonish treatment of Eva's big beautiful eyes, and of Chiu's inability to stay awake for the portrait process.

And then of course I have my little boxes in the shape of hearts which I made for Valentine's day.

Xmas Party at the Gallery

Christmas and Hanukka and the holidays in general can be challenging times, and yet through it all bursts a golden seam of pure, joyful creativity. I'm not sure why this is, but perhaps it has to do with the recurring goal of making smallish items, affordable to folks that can't spend on big "real" paintings and artwork. There is a freedom and pleasure to such informal production!

Each year we make batches of ornaments to hang on the gallery tree, and they change from one year to the next. I'd like to think that this makes them wildly collectible, which of course only time will tell. This year Cosette and I decoupaged tapa motifs onto rectangles and squares, while other artists in the gallery decoupaged miniature prints of flowers, mermaids, rabbits, dogs, cats, and Frida Kahlo.

Here's Tuko's invitation for our party this Friday afternoon/evening.