ARTIST AT HOME: Victoria

February 26, 2012

Week 8

Sunny,windy,snowy and cold.

After leaving  the warm and fragrant breezes of Hawaii, I felt as if I was walking into a refrigerator when I got home Saturday evening. Sandals, sunscreen, and shorts have been replaced with  shoes, gloves,and a winter coat. But the snow drops and crocus are up in the garden so…I am sure spring is just around the corner.Eleanor is doing very well, shopping, cleaning, visiting with friends, and the bridge games start up again next week. The only thing she hadn’t done was drive on the freeway at night. She wants to get accustom to her new glasses first. On my  last day, we went to the Honolulu Art Museum as we were booked for a  tour of  Doris Dukes Estate. It was excellent, her  collection of Islamic art is outstanding and it is housed in a series of  eclectic rooms in a house on the ocean by Diamond Head. You can only access the tour through the  Art Museum. As we were waiting for the bus we noticed an  intriguing  installation on the grass in front of the gallery. It was created by environmental artist Patrick Dougherty. He uses the invasive strawberry guava saplings, twisting,and weaving the material to  create large, organic sculptures. The work was very interesting and once again proves that even the most humble and mundane materials can become art.The pictures I have chosen to show are from  previous installations as he was not finished, but it gives you an idea of the size and intricate weaving.

ARTIST AT HOME: Hawaii

February 19, 2012

Week 7

A mixture of clouds and sun with warm trade winds.

All good news this week, Eleanor is doing fantastically,tromping along the beach, driving across the Pali and getting in and out of the local parking lots. Whoever designed the Safeway parking lot in Oak Bay started out on Oahu, yozer they are dangerous and all  the lumpy on steroid type of trucks don’t help either as you can’t see around them. Marcel also  had excellent news sight in his right eye is almost back to normal. Yes, you did see me doing the Snoopy dance on the beach. Speaking of Eleanor’s beach, it is full of mythical like monsters. They start to show up just after dawn, slowly coming out of the iron wood forest,flapping and slithering along the sand. Then lying still until there handlers start to unravel  the tethers and strings attached to them. Turning toward the water, suddenly they catch the wind and with a crack and loud whoosh they start to unfurl, straining and pulling toward the ocean. As one, the kite boarder and beast  enter the water and flash in and out of the waves as they fly across the ocean twisting and turning with the wind.

ARTIST AT HOME: Hawaii

February 12 2012

Week  7

Warm, sunny with trade winds.

O.K. so I am not at home. I am in Hawaii, visiting Eleanor. She has become the  darling of all the doctors and the poster girl for the speediest recovery from an aneurysm. She is off of most of her meds and can get around quite well. I am the chauffeur,so far we are alive. Yikes, everyone drives really fast,because they know where they are going. I have to rely on Eleanor for driving directions, we are like a Laurel and Hardy comedy team, as we are whizzing past an off ramp she will say oh,should have turned there! Not a chance I am going to cross all those lanes in time,so we have been going on lots of alternate routes. Nothing like changing your horizons to keep you on your toes.More good news Marcel’s eye is improving, hurrah. The Island of Oahu is an art piece, layer upon layer of greens,lime green,gray green, and blue green,covering the hills and stretching out to the sea. Flat black lava walls,covered in technicolor bougainvillaea, hot pink, crimson red and bright white flowers  cascading down the walls. Tucked into the cool and damp shadows are purple orchards, hanging on trees,and collapsed fences. Apparently it is cool, ( 78) which is just fine for me and the wind is from the North,perhaps a tropical rain storm? Ah the drama of Hawaii.

ARTIST AT HOME: Victoria

February 5 2012

Week 6

Sunny and crisp.

Ah, the twist and tuners of life, last week we got a phone call from Marcel:

The eye doctor said I’m lucky I hit a flexible branch and just scratched my eye, had it been a stiffer branch….SO yes I scratched my eye which is no big deal, the cornea heals up quickly with minimal scarring, BUT I hit a direct ‘bullseye’ on the pupil leaving a nice scar where all the light is entering…meaning I have blurry vision out the right side now. This blur should improve/lessen over time but there is no time frame nor prediction to what it may improve to. One thing is for sure thou, it will never be what it was. The really hard part about being an artist is there is no separation between the real of life and the real of art. As we are doing artist statements,making submission,defending out work,life goes on and we lay down layer after layer of self on the canvas or the paper. I joke about the dreams of walking through the mall naked, or burying my head in a hole in the back yard, with the next rejection, or the next crises…..and life goes on. This week I got a fantastic present in the mail from Joel, because I thought I might be a little low with all the problems that Eleanor has been having. A kaleidoscope that is so beautiful that my gasp of delight looking through for the first time it was heard around the world three times. It fits in the palm of my hand, and contains a universe of shooting stars,sliding shards of lights and golden globes floating in-between… and the good and bad of life goes on.