Currently in my kitchen corner studio.
I got invited by Laulima Nature Center to join an art day camp earlier this month.
This was a dream invite and one of the coolest things I could go to. The reason for the art camp is to bring artists together, strengthen the community and support artist while simultaneously raising awareness of our native plants. The goal of the art camp was also to have each artist prepare something for a fundraiser exhibit. Laulima Nature Center is raising money to be able to provide more community outreach events that can support community and educate people on native Hawaiʻi plants.
So that morning a group of us artists met up at Laulima Nature Center, drank coffee and got to know each other. Some of us had never met. Then we carpooled to Kīpukapuaulu. We hiked around as a group looking at native plants and learned so much from each other. Dayna Weber the founder of Laulima would stop and point out plants and share valuable ʻike (knowledge) about them as we went along our way.
After the hike we drove back to the Laulima Nature Center. We had lunch and talked story. Then we began painting and sketching while listening to music and each planning our new artworks we were doing to create.
The theme they asked us to create to was “unfurling” like a Kupukupu fern. This was to represent the Laulima Nature Centers growth and coming into its own.
I had a few ideas and all the plants I saw were inspiring to paint. I’m sure I will use reference photos from that day for many new paintings to come.
I did however decide to paint the Hau Kuahiwi for this exhibit. The Hau flower was previously listed as “extinct” because it was no longer found in the wild. However someone or some people, collected seeds from a plant when it was endangered and propagated it and now there are a very few in the wild. We got to see one!
It is a stunning flower in the hibiscus family. It’s curved and folded with so much texture and personality. However what is so cool to me is the “senescence”. I just learned this term from Dayna at the art camp.
It’s the process of aging for the plant. In this particular case the flower petals start off a light greenish color and the stamen are bright red and shiny bauble like. As it ages the petals change to a red ish purple color all the way to a purple maroon color. The stamen change too, they appear to dry out and change to a warm umber like color.
I’m not at all an expert, these are just things I have learned from others and observed myself.
These little beauties have a lot of character, color and textures. I wanted to capture all the lines and edges and ridges. I especially wanted to capture their senescence. And really showcase that change that they go through.
I am in love with this idea of beauty through time and aging that I really felt compelled to bring this idea to life. It’s a wonderful reminder that everything is beautiful in its time.
I also love that although it was recently listed as extinct, it has made its way back into the wild with the help of kind, hopeful and persistent people.
I wanted to capture that hopeful feeling that the Hau Kuahiwi has a way of sharing. So to do that I had a goal to include the way the light seeps through the tallest forest tree tops. Who doesn’t love that?! It’s a favorite thing of mine. I attempted to capture a dappled sunlight forest by creating light and shadow on the leaves and flowers.
I did struggle with the background. It’s often one of the most difficult parts of a painting for me. But I do think I am getting better at it. My challenge was with visualizing exactly what I wanted to create. But once I could see it in my minds eye I was able to come up with a plan. I made the background to have soft colors and leaves with kore water to paint ratio to give the affect of distance and dimension.
I’m very happy with how it came out.
Writing down the story of this painting helped me find her a name. I struggled also with naming this piece because I had a strong feeling of what this piece needed to be named but couldn’t find a word to describe it. It feels complex. But I love a good simple name that carries significance.
So after writing this I have decided on “Hoʻōla Hou”.
Hoʻōla Hou means, revive, a healing restoration of life.
Prints are for sale on my website.