Documented Life ....using underpaper

 What is underpaper, you say? Well, it's the paper you keep on under your journal when you are painting, to keep the table clean. I've gotten to where I will empty the brush out on that paper before I clean it out in a glass of water to change colors. You end up with a nice colorful paper that can be used in other projects. This turtle was sketched on one of those papers.

The ocean is also made from underpapers. I found some Hawaiian proverbs online, and since I love Hawaii, I decided to make a page from one of those. The theme for the week was "What lies beneath" and Hawaii has a lot "beneath" with volcanoes and the ocean all around.

Originally I had a page facing this one that included a volcano and lava underground, but it was too bold for this page, and I wanted the turtle to be the focus. So, I cut this page out and glued it to another page to stand alone. Sometimes, you just have to edit a little. When we were in Hawaii, we saw green sea turtles many times, and one swam up to us one day when we were swimming in a lagoon. It was a rather magical moment!

 Gorgeous black cliffs and the prettiest blues ever.

A fisherman and his son with their nets, while turtles sleep nearby.

Honomu, Hawaii

Honomu is a sweet little town near Akaka Falls. The buildings are over a hundred years old and the shop owners have gussied them up with some eyecatching colors. The Woodshop Gallery and Cafe serves a delicious ahi sandwich, and the rest of the food looked good too.

The shops in this drawing sell some beautiful sarongs and such. This kind of drawing is the most fun for me...start in with the pen and see where it goes. Usually wonky..and I like that. You might see more of this town later, because the rest of the strip is equally interesting.

Right up the road you from this town you find Akaka Falls State Park. The park has several falls including this small one:

and two very large ones including the 422 foot tall Akaka Falls:

The path is paved (though there are lots of steps) and the park is definitely worth a visit!

Hilo on Dwellable

Flickr Meet-up

Today I went out with Dennis, whose artwork I've admired on flickr for a long while.

We, and his student Brentton, were going to go on our own little sketchcrawl today, but it was raining pretty hard most of the day.

 We took quite a few photos, and eventually settled down to do a drawing. Well, I did a quick (for me) sketch...Dennis did about 7 or 8 in the same time.

 This is the spot I drew, but from a bit of a different angle.

I used pencil, which I have not used in a long time. Perspective sometimes gives me fits.  Because it was raining so much I tore a few pages out of my sketchbook...that way I could just grab a page with out having the whole book out to get rained on. When I got home, I just hinged it back to the stub I tore it from with a pretty piece of paper and some glue.

A bit of color..

I can't seem to get the color to show right on screen, however. The water is definitely a completely different color...but I don't have the skills to mess with the photo to show you a more accurate version. But you get the idea. Lots of blues and purpley blues..for some reason the violets are getting lost.

This is a gorgeous spot on the Puna coast on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Drawing by the Ocean...

I walked down to the ocean today to check out the plein air painters gathered there. There were quite a few artists gathered. Many seemed to be working in oils and acrylics...fun to watch.

I sat down on a rock and settled down to sketch a bit. I decided on this scene.

 A friend from Christie's labyrinth garden stopped by and gave me a couple of Hawaiian paint brushes. They are seed pods from the Lauhala tree, and I may have to try and use them to paint a bit of this sketch. It started raining pretty hard which sent me on a walk back home. Watercolors and rain...not such a good match.

 Beautiful blues.

I started inking in the basics, and will add some color. More tomorrow...

Puna on Dwellable

Ahalanui Warm Pond

 Today I went swimming at Ahalanui and brought my sketchbook along. This pool is a mixture of spring water warmed by the volcano and ocean water coming in a spillway at one end.  It's usually so warm it feels like a warm bath....

 but today the waves were huge, and

 crashing over the wall putting lots of ocean water into the pool. It made it more like a luke warm bath, but still very pleasant, and it's always good to have a lot of fresh water in the pool.

 I swam and sketched, and swam and sketched...

 until I was pretty well sketched out and waterlogged. Nice day! Now for some dinner!

 

Big Island on Dwellable

Quick

 Pohoiki Warm Pond

Quick is sometimes better. I just wanted to try that little pond again, so I did a quick one tonight, and I like it better. Sometimes you just have to quit thinking so much.

Pohoiki Warm Pond

I almost scrapped this one, but saved it because I started drawing it on site. It's a record of my day, and a pretty nice day at that......any day by the water in the sun has a darn good start. The ocean is just feet away, but this little pond (heated from underground) is tucked up under the ivy and trees.  I get self-conscious when people watch me (they were) and was trying to draw all those rocks without really taking the time to truly see them as they are. Anyway, I wish you could see how beautiful this little spot truly is.

Sunday Morning

Hawaii Bound

Have you ever just felt drawn to a place? I have. I feel drawn to Michigan, where I grew up spending my summers, and I try to go back as often as possible. I never expected to feel drawn to Hawaii, even though my sister and I were born there. I just thought it was a beautiful place I hoped to get to see one day. Then, when I had the opportunity to visit there in 2009, I was struck by how that place spoke to me. I thought I was a lake girl, but now I know I'm an ocean girl as well. I know you probably wonder when I'll stop working from pictures from those trips. The answer might be "never."

My sister, Holly, and I are going to Hawaii soon. Both of us have had a rough year, and this trip seems like a good way to get away from it all and an opportunity to soak up the aloha of the islands. Since I will be staying a while, I hope to do some drawing and art journaling, and maybe even try to sell some artwork.

One of these days, I'll have to do a post about traveling to Hawaii on a budget. Not that I know how to do it for free or anything (haven't figured that one out yet!), but there are ways to make it cheaper than most people generally do.

I can't promise to blog everyday. I learned a long time ago, that that is a hard promise to keep. I'll definitely be posting some pictures though, and I'll try to post the good, the bad, and the ugly...whatever I draw while I'm there.

Queen Liliuokalani Gardens

 I did this page long ago, and wasn't happy with it. It's still not what I would have liked, but I kind of like the moodiness of it now. I added some pieces of maps, a fish cut from a tattoo ad, and a little journaling about the day.  The facing page will probably feature a geko....a tattoo influenced geko :)

Polynesian Tattoos..take 2

All done. I toyed with the idea of adding color to the background like the beautiful golden brown skin these tats were on, but I liked the black and white when I was all finished. There maybe be another page like this in my future (so many tats, so little time!), and I might try a bit of watercolor on that one.

Polynesian Tattoos

When we were in Hawaii we saw so many beautiful tattoos. I wonder at the meaning of them, but apparently the meanings could vary from one island to the next or even from family to family...and the meanings of some have been lost through the ages. As you can imagine, each person has a personal story or meaning behind their tat.

Puna Road

I think I'm going to have to try this one again, and try to simplify. Sometimes I get so caught up in trying to draw every little thing, and then I get lost, and things go a bit haywire. Anyway, it's a start, and at least the overall effect is jungley.  I haven't drawn much of anything since I moved in September. I've just been settling in and trying to get my little house squared away.

Kohala

Jennifer and I explored the north end of the island one day. This area has quite a few galleries and we tried to visit as many as possible. We visited the gallery at the Bamboo Restaurant, and I wish we had been there at dinner time, because it gets very good reviews and it was a very cute place. On the way home we parked on the coastline and watched the whales play and the sun set.

Across the street from the Bamboo Restaurant were several places to stop for a treat, including the Kava Kafe, which I sketched from my photo later that evening.

Kohala on Dwellable

Loco Moco

I tried this dish in Hawaii since it's a local favorite.
 
  It's rice topped with 2 big hamburger patties and 2 fried eggs, smothered in gravy. To me, it sounds icky, and looks questionable, but it's really quite delicious! But it's huge...I think it would feed two people!

Friday Favorite....

Today I am honored to be featured as Mary Nasser's  Friday Favorite on her blog.....check it out!

Mary uses maps in her artwork, and you all know how I love maps. You can see some of her work here. She also recently was an artist in residence at Red Cinder Creativity Center on the big island of Hawaii, loves her dogs and bicycling. You can see we have many interests in common!
Here is one of her recent works, inspired by her time living by the volcano on the big island:
This piece is entitled "Lake"

Yellow Tang

I've been busy moving, and not had time to put a pen to paper. I decided today to do a page while I was at work. I worked with the the few tools I had there: 2 ink pens and my little set of watercolors, and a stamp pad. Snorkeling in Hawaii was fantastic....I'm one of those landlubbers who says things like, "Wow! It's just like an aquarium!" That's what happens when you don't live near the ocean!